an accident of a bus It occurred on Saturday shortly before 9:30 p.m. hours (local time) on a bridge in the municipality of Cerdedo-Cotobade, located in Galicia, near the border with Portugal, local authorities said on Sunday.
Total, eight people were on the bus, which linked the towns of Lugo and Vigo. Among the accident victims, two could be rescued alive: the driver of the vehicle, in his sixties, and a woman.
The other six passengers were found dead.according to the rescue teams, who posted on Twitter an image of the submerged bus at the bottom of a ravine in a river between tree trunks.
The first two victims were found near the wreckage of the vehicle, a few hours after the accident. The bodies of the other four people were recovered in the Lérez river, where the tragedy occurredaccording to the Civil Guard.
Until then, the number of missing people was uncertain, as the driver had “doubts” about how many were on the bus at the time of the accident.
heavy rain
“The rescue teams confirm that all the people who were missing were rescued.”
Galician emergencies.
According to the Civil Guard, five Spaniards from Galicia are among the deceased, including a mother and her son. The sixth fatality is a woman of Peruvian nationality who took care of an elderly man in Cerdedo-Cotobade.
Among the passengers on the bus were people who were visiting relatives detained at the Monterroso prison, located in central Galicia, on Christmas Eve, the regional newspaper La Voz de Galicia reported.
A motorist gave the alarm signal after verifying that the security barrier of the bridge was destroyed. The emergency service received a call from inside the buswhich allowed them to locate the vehicle.
The rescue operations were complicated by the heavy rains that fell during the night, which caused an increase in the flow of the river, where the bus plunged, but also by the relief of the area.
great unevenness
Under the bridge there arequite a large drop” from “thirty metersconfirmed a spokesperson for the Civil Guard. In a statement, the rescuers mentioned that it even reached 75 meters in certain parts.
These conditions forced the search work to be suspended for several hours and resumed on Sunday morning, with a team that included mountain rescue units, speleologists and a helicopter.
The sinister “It is an unmitigated tragedy“, declared to the media the mayor of Cerdedo-Cotobade, Jorge Cubelawho highlighted the “professionalism” of the rescuers deployed at the scene of the event.
An investigation has been opened to determine the causes of the accident, still unknown. According to the Civil Guard spokesman, the bus driver has experience behind the wheel and, in addition, tested negative for alcohol and drugs.
“We don’t know the causes yet for sure.“, but “it is true that the weather conditions were very bad yesterday (Saturday) night“, confirmed the president of the Galician community, Alfonso Rueda.
