Overturned bus on South Corridor leaves 33 injured

A  ‘Diablo Verde’ type bus on the    Corridor Sur near Punta Pacífica on Tuesday afternoon, leaving 33 people injured 15 of them in critical condition. 

The bus, carrying more than 30 passengers, was left with its tires facing up and the front part completely destroyed.

In several videos t circulating on social networks the, driver of a Metrobus can be seen running with his fire extinguisher to douse the flames from the burning engine and averting a greater catastrophe as passengers struggled to leave the bus through windows and the back door.   

The accident caused a huge roadblock in the direction of the center of the capital city, at the time of the greatest traffic flow, while the National Transport Company Autopista (ENA) closed the Corredor Sur in the direction of Paitilla.

Units from the National Traffic Operations Directorate of the National Police and paramedics from the  Panama Fire Department, the Unique Emergency Management System (Sume 911) and the Social Security Fund (CSS)  attended the scene to care for the injured.

 Lieutenant Colonel Ángel Delgado, Director of the National Related Calamities of the Fire Department, said that some 33 people were evaluated by paramedics at the scene of the accident.

Among the injured, Delgado added, were    15 people in critical condition, another 12 with serious injuries, and the other six had minor injuries. Among the injured were four children, two of them with serious injuries, who were transferred to the Children’s Hospital.

The bus driver , who was one of the first people to be evacuated from the bus, is in critical condition.