QCOSTARICA – Five people are lucky to be alive, suffering serious injuries in the early hours of Sunday morning, after the driver of the vehicle they were travelling in lost control.
In the accident, the vehicle, a Civic Honda with five people, ran off the road, flipped several times and rolled some 20 metres (60 feet) down a ravine on Ruta 32, in the Braulio Carrillo highway.
According to the Policia de Transito official, Ermes Artavia and eyewitness accounts, the Honda was involved in a street race, “Pique” in Spanish, when the vehicle left the road due to excessive speeding.
The accident occurred about 3:30am, in Guacimo, in a mountainous area of the Braulio Carrillo national park, on the road that connects San José to Guapiles and Limón. The same road that suffers constant closures due to landslides.
Authorities were able to identify three of the injured, Valeria Fernanda Ulloa López and Allan Alejandro Porras Mendoza, both 18 years of age and Santiago Arias Ruiz, 22.
With the help of the Bomberos (Fire department), paramedics were able to free the injured from the twisted metal and taken to the Guapiles hospital. The five are in delicate condition.
The accident caused the complete closure of the Ruta 32 for more than an hour.
(Via La Nacion)
Stree racing has been a serious problem around Costa Rica, a problem that authorities have been unable to curb, while accident and often resulting in fatalities continue to pile up.
