QCOSTARICA – Stupidity on our streets continues to take lives. This time that of seven-year old girl on her way to school, in Siquirres, Limon when a truck and train collided.
The explanation by Yehudi Chavarria, head of the Siquirres fire station, is that on hearing the sound of the train, the truck driver stopped at the rail crossing near the San Rafael de Siquirres cemetery, but then decided to proceed and the train, carrying a load of steel, hit the trailer, dragged it for several metres, turning it on its side and hitting the young girl and her mother, waiting at the corner for the train to pass.
The little girl lost her life at the scene from a serious blow to the head. The mother, Xinia del Carmen Duarte Solórzano, who is pregnant, suffered injuries and was taken to the Centro de Atención Integral de Salud (CAIS) de Siquirres. Later, the 39-year-old woman was transferred to the Tony Facio hospital in Limon.
The Policia de Transito (traffic police) arrested the driver of the truck, a 37-year-old man identified by his surname Campos, for negligence.
A breathalyzer test resulted negative.
“More than her wounds, she was deeply affected by what happened to her daughter,” said Chavarria
So far this year there have been 17 collisions between vehicles and trains, according to the railway – the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocariles (INCOFER).
“We can not continue to lose lives by reckless actions of drivers. We vehement call on all Costa Ricans to respect road signs and stop at all rail crossings,” the INCOFER said in a press release.
The reaction on the social media of the little girl’s death has been strong among Costa Ricans and foreigners, alike, some calling driver a “stupid person”.
One poster said, “I used to ride the train from San Jose to Heredia, it hit 3 cars in the same amount of weeks when I was on it … system needs to be fixed, those trains are packed each day so they need to stop f***ng cutting corners and put some of the cash into making it safe!”
Source: La Nacion
