Tragic accident kills at least 29 Haitians, injures 67

On Tuesday, a dump truck with faulty brakes plowed through a bus, cars, pedestrians, and motorbikes. The dump truck was filled with gravel and rubble, part of the debris from the huge earthquake that struck that place two years ago. The driver lost control on one of the busiest streets in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The accident occurred on Route Delmas in front of a supermarket. One witness said that the dump truck hit motorcycles, cars, and vendors that were set up alongside the street. The president of Haiti, Michael Martelly, rushed to the accident scene. So did Garry Conille, who is both the prime minister and a physician. Eventually, the two would go to State University Hospital. Many of the injured were transported there.

The accident caused the deaths of 29 people and injured another 67, overfilling emergency centers in nearby hospitals. In an effort to reduce the number of traffic deaths, the Inter-American Development Bank started a road safety program last November. The program urged Haitians to travel with more caution and to wear helmets on motorcycles and bicycles. The hospitals in Martissant, Leogane, and Drouilard are full of patients who have been injured in traffic accidents. Emergency rooms have teams of physicians, surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists are on call at all times to deal with the rising numbers of accident victims.

Much of Port-au-Prince is still in shambles from the massive earthquake. The disaster claimed the lives of more than 300,000 people and left millions homeless. Still today, there are hundreds of thousands living in squalor, with virtually no sanitation. Cholera outbreaks have claimed many more victims and continue to be a very serious problem in what is one of the world’s poorest countries.

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