There is sadness and uncertainty among the irregular migrants who fill the immigration stations in the Panamanian province of Darién, after the accident of a bus that was carrying a group of them, registered on February 15. died in the accident at least 39 people, including children, confirmed to Agencia EFE a UNICEF official.
Panama receives irregular migrants who cross the Darién jungle, on the border with Colombia, at migration reception stations (ERM), where they take their biometric data and offer them health and food assistance, after which they are transferred by bus, with a passage paid for by themselves, to another of these facilities located near the border with Costa Rica.
It was on this journey between Darién and the Gualaca MRE, Chiriquí province, a distance of about 650 kilometers, where the bus with 66 migrantsaccording to figures from the authorities, he ended up devastated, homeless and with the seats scattered on the floor, in the worst accident of this type in Panama and whose causes are being investigated.
In the recognition of the bodies of the deceased people, the death of a Colombian injured in the event was confirmed. “We regret to inform that forensics have just confirmed the death of one of the compatriots injured in the accident in Panama. His family has already been informed and they are receiving the necessary assistance and guidance”reported the Foreign Ministry.
AGGLOMERATION IN THE MIGRATION STATIONS OF DARIEN
Due to the accident, transfers were suspended on Wednesday both from the receiving communities to the Darién MRS, and from these to the Gualaca MRS, but they resumed this Thursday, explained the Unicef official.
“From Unicef we were able to respond a bit to the contingency by going to the community of Bajo Chiquito, where some 300 people had been, let’s say, stagnant because the flow was suspended”.
On Thursday morning, “some 700 people were arriving from the community of Bajo Chiquito and the community of Canaán-Membrillo to the MRE of Lajas Blancas, and the buses also began to arrive to begin the transfers to Los Planes de Gualaca,” Sanchez stated.
“It is already reactivating that flow that avoids these possible situations of overcrowding. At this moment we are over the capacity (of the MREs), but it is expected that this situation will begin to be resolved a bit,” added the official of the United Nations entity United.
According to official figures from Panama, on February 1 there were 655 migrants in the MRS of Darién and 216 in Gualaca.
In 2022, 248,284 irregular travelers arrived in Panama through the jungle, an unprecedented number and 85.6% higher than in 2021, while more than 37,000 have done so so far this year.
Unicef alerted of a “exponential growth” in the number of minors crossing the jungle this year, when an estimated 7,000 did so in 45 days, compared to 643 in January 2022 alone.
With information from EFE Agency*