On the afternoon of this Friday, February 17, the Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of one of the six Colombians who was traveling on the bus that had an accident on Wednesday en route to Panama.
“We regret to inform that forensics have just confirmed the death of one of the compatriots injured in the accident in Panama,” explained the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement in which they additionally added that the victim’s family was notified of his death.
Let us remember that on February 15 at 4:30 in the morning (local time), in the Province of Chiriquí, Panama, a bus carrying 66 migrants who had managed to cross the Darién Gap in the border jungle between Colombia and Panama , bound for the US-Mexico border, apparently suffered a mishap. According to some witnesses to the accident, the bus driver went past the hostel where the travelers had to rest; whereupon, he tried to make a turn on the road, but lost control and collided with a minibus, causing it to fall into the abyss.
THE AMOUNT
In 2022, 248,284 irregular travelers arrived in Panama through the Darién jungle, an unprecedented number; that is, 85.6% more than in 2021. On the contrary, so far this year, more than 37,000 people have crossed the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama.
Likewise, the ministry confirmed that a 4-year-old minor is part of the list of Colombians injured in the accident. With the minor, there are six Colombian children who were on board the vehicle at the time of the accident.
The Colombian minor was traveling with his older brother, a Venezuelan national, who died. “The Consulate is in contact with his family, who is in Venezuela. His grandfather will come to Panama for him, ”they explained from the Foreign Ministry.
Thus, a Colombian swells the number of victims of the accident; while, two others are among the survivors; one more is yet to determine his state of health; On the other hand, the nationality of two others whose state of health is unknown has yet to be confirmed.
The Colombian authorities indicated that “the identification work has been complex because most of the bodies were affected and many of the belongings and identification documents were lost, so it has been difficult to determine the identity of the victims.”
However, the Panamanian authorities managed to confirm the nationalities of the migrants who were traveling on the bus, where 40 victims who have yet to be identified lost their lives.
- Ecuador: 21 people
- Haiti: 16 people
- Venezuela: 11 people
- Brazil: 6 people
- Colombia: 6 people
- Cameroon: 2 people
- Cuba: 2 people
- nigeria: one person
- Eritrea: one person