12 injured after bus falls in Santa Elena

In the morning hours of this Monday, December 22, an accident occurred at kilometer 3 of the Santa Elena highway, when an intermunicipal bus that covered the Río Negro-Medellín route plunged into the void after taking over part of a house located on the edge of the road in the 8 de Marzo sector.

The bus, which was carrying 25 passengers, overturned after the spectacular fall into an abyss of approximately 50 meters. Leaving a balance of 12 injured people, 6 of whom were treated at the scene and another 6 had to be transferred to healthcare centers in the city, including a pedestrian in a delicate state of health.

Carlos Andrés Quintero, director of the DAGRD (Administrative Department of Disaster Risk Management), detailed the events: “A bus traveling on the Río Negro-Medellín route crashes in front of a house in the 8 de Marzo sector, kilometer 3 of Santa Elena, affecting a person who was in the house, also causing structural damage.”

About 20 firefighting units were deployed to respond to the emergency. The authorities are currently stabilizing the vehicle to be able to carry out the safe extraction and continue to carry out an exhaustive inspection of the entire area to rule out the presence of more affected people.

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A video circulating on social networks shows the dramatic seconds before the accident. The images show how the intermunicipal bus, in a desperate maneuver, carries away part of the structure of the house located on the edge of the road before plunging into the void. The audiovisual record, which is already in the hands of the authorities, will be key to determining the exact causes of the incident.

The investigation will determine if there was negligence in the maintenance of the vehicle, if the driver respected the speed limits established for the mountainous area or if it was an inevitable mechanical failure that put the lives of dozens of people at risk.