translated from Spanish: 2 dead and 11 injured in a car accident in Cuba

Two people were killed on Friday and at least 11 injured in a massive accident that occurred when two vehicles collided in the western province of Mayabeque, state media reported. The accident occurred in the morning on a road that flows into the municipality of Batabanó, located 47 kilometers south of Havana.

The injured – ten of them in serious condition – are treated in the general hospitals Professor Leopoldito Martínez de Mayabeque and in the surgical clinician Miguel Enríquez of Havana.So far other details of the incident are unknown, the causes of which are investigated by traffic law enforcement authorities, according to the Mayabeque province newspaper on their Facebook account.In Cuba a traffic accident is recorded every 55 minutes, one person dies every 15 hours and there is an injured person every one hour and 15 while the mortality rate is just over six per 100,000 inhabitants, for this cause. From January to the end of October 2019, 7,800 road accidents occurred in Cuba, leaving a balance of 5,735 injured and 490 deaths, according to a report by the Transit Directorate of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), reported by means state of the island. Not paying due attention to the vehicle, violating the right of way, speeding and driving after consuming alcoholic beverages, are among the most repeated causes of accidents. Studies by the traffic authorities have indicated that not paying attention, whether it is for using cell phones, not keeping distance or performing any manoeuvres that prevents driving, is the first reason for accidents, deaths and injuries in the country. In presenting these statistics, the balance sheet highlighted, however, that the number of accidents was lower – by 460 cases – _en the first ten months of this year to the amount recorded in 2018 in the same period. Accidents are the fifth leading cause of death in Cuba, where in 2018 10,070 road accidents were recorded in which 683 people were killed and 7,730 injured, and these statistics revealed a 6,111 road accident death rate of 6,11 people who died for every 1,000 who were involved in such a disaster. The island has a high rate of accidents on roads and urban roads also attributed to the advanced age of the mobile park (most vehicles in circulation are over 20 years and many more than 60) and its precarious maintenance that is often carried out by hand.

Original source in Spanish