Speeding seems to be the principal cause of a major crash between two buses on the Autopista General Cañas this Thursday morning. The crash occurred before 6:00 a.m. on the San Jose to Alajuela lanes, in front of the immigration service in La Uruca.
Critically injured are three, one of them taken to the Hospital Mexico a short distance away, the others, one to the San Juan de Dios and the other to the Hospital Calderon Guardia. Many more are being attended by paramedics of the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) and the Bomberos (Fire Dept), some with serious lacerations, others with bumps and bruises.
The most seriously injured was a pedestrian in the service road running parallel to the autopista. It is expected that the man will have to undergo an amputation surgery.
According to witness accounts, the bus in the rear was traveling at an excessive speed, hitting the bus in front that appears was going to make a stop at the approved bus stop. Witnesses say the driver of the rear bus tried to swerve to avoid crashing into the front bus, but couldn’t or would have hit vehicles in the left lanes.
Fortunately, there were no fatalities despite the “aparatoso” (spectacular) crash.
At this point in the autopista, the right lane also serves a bus stop given there are no bus bays at that location, as is in most of the bus stops along the most transited road in the country.
It will be some time before authorities can attend to all the injured and remove the buses and the debris from the autopista. Best is to avoid the area entirely if you can.
