The longed-for Christmas shopping trip of three friends from Tibas and La Uruca ended in tragedy Tuesday morning, in a fiery head-on collision near Quepos.
In the other vehicle, a woman, 7 months pregnant, traveling as a passenger, died later in hospital, at the Hospital Max Terán Valls, according to the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ).
The friends, whose bodies were charred from the fire from the collision, were identified as Jorge Antonio Zúñiga Chinchilla (20), Davis Rolando Cortés Venegas (22) and Carlos Carballo Alfaro (26). The group had left Leon XIII and Tibas at 2:00 am Tuesday, headed for Paso Canoas, in the southern zone.
The woman, a school teacher at the Escuela Brunca, in Río Claro de Golfito, was identified as Eraida de Los Ángeles Delgado Anchía, 39 years of age. Julio César Madrigal Méndez, chief of the Quepos OIJ office, said although the baby was taken from the woman, neither of them survived.
The crash occurred at 5:54 am on the Costanera Sur, some 25 meters west of the Portalon river bridge.
According to Madrigal, the three friends alternated driving the car, a sedan, which is registered in the name of the mother of one of them.
However, when they approached Portalón, the sedan could not take a curve and hit the right side of the 4×4, a Toyota Rav4, which was traveling from Palmar to San José.
“By the version given by the driver of the other vehicle (the Rav4), the car of the boys invaded the opposite lane,” said Madrigal.
The driver of the Rav4 was identified as Kenia Rodríguez Trejos, also a teacher, who was traveling with her two daughters, 11 and 16 years old, another teacher, Kenneth Calderón Hernández and Delgado (the deceased).
The four occupants who survived were taken to the Max Terán Hospital. Katrina Barquero, Emergency Coordinator, confirmed all patients were in stable condition.
Andrés Céspedes, supervisor of the Bomberos (fire department), said that after controlling the fire (of the sedan), the three deceased adults were found inside the vehicle.