The number of dead and injured in the Panama bus accident rises

• A bus carrying migrants fell of a cliff in Panama.
• What is the death toll?
• Authorities give more heartbreaking details.

Millions of Latinos undertake a dangerous journey to the north. They want to reach the United States to fulfill what they call the «American dream». Unfortunately, the journey can be very difficult and at times it can be dangerous.

This was the case when a bus carrying migrants that were traveling from Panama to the US plunged off a cliff. The tragedy occurred in the town of Gualaca, in the western part of the country.

How did the accident happen?

Authorities in Chiriquí, Edilberto Armuelles informed local media that 39 people died and more than 20 were injured in the accident, which occurred at 4:30 local time on Wednesday, February 15, 2023.

Among the injured there are at least 10 children, three of them seriously, according to local media reports. No details on the identities of the victims have been released.

The migrants wanted to come to the United States

According to the information available, 66 people on board the bus, including the driver and his assistant. The migrants had come from a shelter in the province of Darién, on the border with Colombia, and were being transported to another in Chiriquí, on the border with Costa Rica.

Panama receives these travelers at stations where they take their biometric data and offer them health and food assistance, then they are transferred by bus to the border with Costa Rica to continue on their way.

Their dreams were ruined

According to CNN en Español, the bus fell off the cliff just as it arrived at a migration shelter in Los Planes, where migrants who enter through the Darién jungle are housed. It is from this point that they are allowed to leave for North America.

The Ministry of Health sent a team of 12 people — made up of doctors, psychologists and nurses — to the shelter to take care of the migrants affected by the accident as well as relatives of the deceased ,the ministry reported in a press release.

The injured were taken to the nearest hospital

So far the exact cause of the accident and the nationalities of the occupants of the bus are unknown. Several of those injured were taken by ambulance to the hospital in the city of David, head of the province of Chiriquí, according to the authorities.

According to local media, the bus driver mistakenly passed the shelter near Gualaca, where the travelers were supposed to rest before continuing to the Costa Rican border. After noticing his mistake and turning around, the bus collided with a minibus.