Dump truck loses control in Port-au-Prince, killing 26 people

2012-01-19 03:06:39 GMT+7 (ICT)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (BNO NEWS) -- More than 25 people were killed on late Monday evening when a dump truck lost control on a busy road in Haiti, local media reported on Wednesday. Dozens more were injured.

The accident happened at around 10 p.m. local time on Monday on Delmas 33 street near a building of the country's National Television, located in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, which is still recovering from a devastating earthquake in 2010.

Mayor Wilson Jeudy of Delmas told the Defend Haiti website that the dump truck was coming from Delmas 40 when the driver lost control and crashed into a line of street vendors, motorcyclists, vehicles and others who were at the scene.

Defend Haiti said the death toll stood at 26 as of Wednesday, while at least 56 others were reported injured, many of them seriously. Emergency teams arrived at the scene which was littered with dead bodies, reports said.

The driver of the truck jumped out of the vehicle after hitting the first object and quickly fled the scene, police said. A search is underway to find the driver, the website said.

Mayor Jeudy said he was thankful that the accident happened late in the evening and not in the afternoon when the streets are far busier. He recognized that traffic conditions in the city are dangerous and said he has worked to improve the situation, but so far without success.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-01-19

The driver of the truck jumped out of the vehicle after hitting the first object and quickly fled the scene

He would no doubt have been lynched if he didn't do a Thai-style runner, and rightly so. So much life wasted by these arrogant truck drivers.

I think it was Henry Kissinger who called Bangladesh the World's Basket Case. Apparently, he hadn't been to Haiti. It's a country that just can't catch a break.