In a major traffic accident, 4 people died and 28 people were injured, 2 of them children. It occurred when a bus overturned on the highway this Monday in Cuba’s easternmost Guantanamo province. In a note published in the Venceremos newspaper in Havana, it was reported that the bus, which was the last of a caravan and that 32 people were traveling, including professors serving in Havana and their families, crashed. Four of the injured were operated on at the Agostinho Neto Training General Hospital in the provincial capital.
Accident eyewitnesses claimed no other vehicles involved The cause of the accident is being investigated by the authorities. This is the second major accident recorded in the first days of the new year. According to local media reports, before this Monday someone left 12 injured On the access bridge of the highway connecting Havana to the western state of Pinar del Río.
In the last days of last year and at the beginning of 2023, there was an increase in traffic accidents involving mass and serious transportation on the island, many of them fatal. A recent report from the National Highway Commission (CNA) stated that between January and October 2022, 566 people were killed and 6,175 injured in 8,187 traffic accidents in Cuba. According to this assessment, the accident rate indicators on the island at the end of October showed an increasing trend compared to 2019, 2020 and 2021. The National Highway Commission points out that the main causes of accidents on Cuban streets and highways are lack of control of the vehicle, violation of the right of way, lane violation and speeding. Added to this is the presence of a fleet of cars of more than 50 years, which is characterized by an increase in moped circulation, insufficient condition of the country’s road network due to lack of maintenance, little road training and age.
In all of 2021, there were 8,354 accidents, representing an increase of 8.32% (632) compared to 2020, resulting in 589 deaths, while in 2020 there were 475 deaths out of 7,712 reported accidents on Cuban roads.