Accident on the school route in Santander: two girls remain in critical condition

Last Tuesday, March 22, a bus that provided the school route service fell into an abyss in the rural area of San Andrés, Santander. Six people were killed and 14 more injured, including two girls who remain in critical condition.

The International Hospital of Colombia (HIC), where minors aged 7 and 10 are hospitalized, assured that the girls remain in an Intensive Care Unit due to the severity of the injuries they suffered in the traffic accident.

“The second minor arrived at noon and we are currently evaluating this patient because she has a closed thoracoabdominal trauma and may require surgical interventions, her condition is critical and her prognosis is reserved,” added the health professional.

In the same hospital, located in Piedecuesta, Santander, two other minors who were injured in the accident with the school route are being held in the same hospital. All students were transferred from Malaga, where they were initially treated.

As Frank Serrano explained, the other minors who are being treated are “they are patients who arrived the night before, a boy and a girl, who are stable.”

“All the diagnostic evaluations have already been done and they may be transferred to hospitalization to complete their observation,” added the director of the International Hospital of Colombia.

Bus that was on a school route in Santander had already crashed and did not have permits: Supertransporte

The Superintendency of Transport regretted the incident that left six minors dead and fifteen people injured, including the driver. In addition, the Supertransport reported some preliminary details they know about the wrecked vehicle.

For example, the crashed bus was a 1998 model Chevrolet with a capacity for thirty passengers. The age of the vehicle already represents the first irregularity: Decree 348 of 2015, which regulates the special transport service, states that vehicles with white license plates cannot be more than 20 years old.

If vehicles are engaged in special transport, the service life is reduced to fifteen years. After that time, the bus must be scrapped and the Ministry of Transport can replace it with one with similar characteristics but with a suitable age. However, the crashed bus was 24 years old and was assigned to children in this rural area.

Secondly, the bus did not have a valid operating card. This document is issued when a special service vehicle is linked to a legal transport company and meets all the requirements to operate. With the absence of this card, it goes without saying that the SRY939 plate bus was not linked to any transport company.

In addition, the vehicle's history shows that it had already been involved in three traffic accidents, which occurred in 2007 and 2008. In any case, the bus did have a technical-mechanical review, SOAT and policies up to date.

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