| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2008 
Chihuahua’s Highway of Doom?
 Frontera NorteSur
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| | In addition to 14 dead, 46 people were reported injured. | | |
Chihuahua state authorities say it could take up to a month to officially identify the victims of a fiery truck-bus crash that claimed 14 lives north of Chihuahua City early on the morning of June 29. The collision happened when a tractor trailer slammed into a bus that was pulled alongside the Pan American Highway.
Belonging to the Omnibus de la Comarca Lagunera line, the Ciudad Juarez-destined bus had stopped to help another bus from the same company that was stranded with a flat tire. Suddenly, a tractor-trailer transporting tons of glass rammed into the Good Samaritan bus, spreading diesel fuel that caught fire and engulfed trapped passengers in flames.
“I was taking off the tire and I felt a strong hit and fell over,” said Alonso Maciel, who was attempting to help the driver.
Conflicting reports emerged about the ability of passengers to escape an instant death-trap. One news story reported that passengers were able to leave through emergency exits, but another piece contended that exits did not function.
“The emergency exit latches were rusted over and never opened,” said survivor Fernando Cardona Torres.
In addition to the 14 dead, most of whom were burned beyond recognition, 46 people were reported injured, nine of them seriously. Among the dead was the driver of the truck. The two buses were carrying 86 people at the time of the accident, and the death toll would likely have been higher if many people had not left the buses to walk around while the flat was being repaired.
A report from the Federal Police placed blame equally on the bus operators and the truck driver for the tragic collision. According to the initial investigation, the bus drivers had not parked their vehicles entirely off the highway while the truck driver was supposedly driving recklessly.
Sadly, the June 29 tragedy was but the latest in a series of fatal bus accidents that have haunted the stretch of the Pan American Highway between Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City in recent years. On April 14, 2007, another early morning bus-truck collision killed 25 people and injured 21 others. Similar to this year’s accident, a 15-ton tractor trailer rear-ended a bus, spilling diesel fuel that rapidly ignited and burned victims to death. An April 2006 bus accident outside Ciudad Juarez killed nine people and injured 21 others. In late 2004, a so-called "pirate" bus, or one that did not have official authorization, crashed on the highway outside Ciudad Juarez, resulting in the deaths of 12 passengers.
As in the wake of previous tragedies, questions were immediately raised about bus company practices as well as the government’s record of enforcing transportation and safety laws. The company involved in the June 29 accident, Omnibus de la Comarca Lagunera, is among numerous outfits that offer low-cost bus fares from Ciudad Juarez to various cities in the Mexican interior.
Most of the economy bus lines are licensed as tourist enterprises, which raises questions about their constant inter-city runs. Break-downs and flat tires often accompany the long-distance journeys between the border and interior destinations. Mexican law permits the companies to operate buses as old as 15 years, but some media reports allege vehicles manufactured as far back as 1970 are being used.
Situated in downtown Ciudad Juarez and other departure points in the border city, the low-fare bus lines are popular with maquiladora workers and others who find that the bigger national companies which operate from the city’s main bus terminal are too expensive.
Under current law, inter-city bus lines that use national highways mainly come under the regulatory authority of the federal Secretariat of Communications and Transportation and the Federal Police, Chihuahua state government spokespersons said.
Still, state and federal authorities plan to carry out joint inspections and reviews of the operation of bus companies, said Sergio Granados Pineda, Chihuahua state government secretary.
“It’s not a matter of seeing who is responsible for this thing or that, but cooperating to make sure that the service being offered is good,” Granados said.
Rodrigo Macias, Ciudad Juarez manager for Omnibus de la Comarca Lagunera, rejected the suggestion that his company was a “pirate” line. The bus line has proper documentation, issues tickets and counts on an insurance policy, Macias said. The company will pay all necessary costs accrued by victims’ relatives and survivors, he added.
As public schools dismiss for summer vacation, bus travel is expected to increase significantly in the coming days.
Father Ignacio Villanueva, parish priest for Ciudad Juarez’s downtown cathedral, lamented the June 29 tragedy, and urged the government to crack down on bus companies that jeopardize lives.
“The people already know the risks they run when using these kinds of buses," Father Villanueva said, “but they continue using them to save a few pesos in spite of the risks.”
Sources:
• Norte June 30, 2008; July 1 and 2, 2008. Articles by Angel Zubia Garcia, Ricardo Espinoza and Felix A. Gonzalez.
• La Jornada, July 1, 2008. Article by M.Breach and Ruben Villalpando.
• El Diario de Juarez, June 29, 2008. Article by David Alvidrez and Orlando Chavez.
• Lapolaka.com, June 29 and 30, 2008.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): U.S.-Mexico border news Center for Latin American and Border Studies New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico.
For a free electronic subscription email fnsnews(at)nmsu.edu |
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