Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Happy to return to their communities in southern Francisco Morazán, they boarded the bus, unaware of the tragedy that would engulf them minutes later.
The transport unit en route from Tegucigalpa to the municipality of San Miguelito, Francisco Morazán, was hit by a trailer transporting melons from Choluteca to Puerto Cortés.
The tragic toll from the deadly attack was 23 dead and 35 injured, four of whom were minors.
The tragedy
The clock struck 10:30 on Sunday morning when a loud bang interrupted the tranquility of the area. The screams of people pleading for help were heard by neighbors passing by, who without hesitation began to assist the survivors of the deadly accident.
“The children were crying and shouting ‘help, help!’ It was very sad,” recalled Mrs. Sonia Reyes, one of the witnesses to the incident.
People ran from one side to the other, pulling survivors from the wreckage of the bus. Many were pulled out through the windows and then transported to hospitals in private vehicles.
Neighbors and passersby, along with emergency personnel, rescued José Eliseo Aguilar Meza (36), driver of the blue trailer with license plates AAI 2830, who miraculously survived.
According to officers from the National Traffic Department (DNT), the driver was immediately taken to the Loarque police station because the less seriously injured individuals attempted to attack him, blaming him for the accident. It
was initially reported that the driver could be charged by the Public Prosecutor’s Office because, according to witnesses, he was traveling at excessive speed and zigzagging on the road until he finally crashed into the bus on a curve.
At approximately 10:50 a.m., the Fire Department received an accident alert and dispatched several ambulances to kilometer 10 of the southern highway. First responders from the Red Cross, the Contingency Committee (Copeco), the National Police, and the Military Police of Public Order (PMOP) also arrived on the scene.
Together, the first responders rescued 39 passengers, four of whom died while receiving medical attention at the University Hospital.
