The director of the National Transit and Ground Transport Institute (Intrant), engineer Claudia Franchesca De los Santos, advocated for both a civilian and criminal investigation in traffic accidents. She said at present inquiries are up to the technical units at the Driver Safety Agency (Digesett) that is under the Attorney General Office. She made the remarks when commenting on the collision of a bus transporting Russian tourists and a truck on the Coral Highway.
She said the country has to get to the point where all vehicles are subject to inspection. She said this is planned to go into effect in 2020, but will take three years for the systems to be fully implemented. She said at present the Intrant works with the bus owners to verify the quality of the tires and other aspects.
She understands enforcing and ensuring quality inspections would reduce accidents, such as the recent incident in which 39 Russian tourists were traveling, including 19 Russian tourists who were seriously injured when the bus tipped over. Preliminary reports say the U-joint failed and the Dominican driver lost control over the vehicle. The accident occurred at around 3:15 pm on Tuesday, 26 November 2019. Rescue crews were at the scene shortly after. The injured were taken to hospitals in Higuey, Punta Cana and Santo Domingo (Air Force Base Hospital Ramón de Lara and UCE Centro Médico). The driver of the bus is in critical condition.
The Ministry of Tourism issued a statement deeply regretting the accident and saying it is monitoring the cases of the tourists affected. Mitur offered its support to the families and friends of those affected and said it is working with the relevant authorities to provide them with the necessary support.
MITUR stressed that above all, the welfare of visitors is a priority. “We will continue to work in coordination with the relevant authorities to maintain levels of road safety and tourist satisfaction in all destinations in the country,” stated Mitur.
El Nuevo Diario reported that at least six Russian tourists and the Dominican driver are in intensive care at different hospitals after the accident. Four of the Russians were taken to the Clínica Cedano in Higuey, and two were transferred to Santo Domingo. The other hospitals are the Centro Médico UCE in Santo Domingo and the Air Force Base Military Hospital Ramón de Lara.
Diario Libre reports that the 11 severely injured patients were transferred to the CEDIMAT and Plaza de la Salud in Santo Domingo.
The Monumental bus company owner is blaming the accident on a collision with a truck that was driving in the wrong lane. The company says it has transported 800,000 tourists from 2018-2019 without any accidents.
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Z101 Digital
Diario Libre
N Digital
El Caribe
Hoy
El Nuevo Diario
Listin Diario
28 November 2019