The rescue operation for the victims of the bus accident that occurred on Saturday in the Lérez river in Cerdedo-Cotobade, Spain, ended today with six dead and two survivors, according to the EFE news agency.
The event took place at 9:19 p.m. on Christmas Eve on national highway 541, at kilometer 67 towards Pontevedra, as it passes through the town of Pedre, in Cerdedo-Cotobade.
The first call received by the Spanish authorities was from an individual, who saw the protection fence of a destroyed bridge, but saw nothing in the river, but moments later 112 received more calls from inside the bus from people warning of its flood. .
Emergency personnel accessed the bus and saved two people during the night, the driver – who tested negative for alcohol and drugs – and a woman who had gotten into the vehicle in Monterroso (Lugo).
The rescue teams also located two bodies inside the cabin, but the high water level in Lérez, above the transshipment threshold, caused the suspension of operations early in the morning.
The rescue teams returned to the scene this morning and managed to remove another body from the cabin, where they found no other passengers.
The other three bodies were found downriver from the bus crash site, at different distances from where the bus still stands.
Eight people were traveling in the vehicle, of which five victims are Galician, three women and two men, and another is a woman of Peruvian nationality residing in Galicia.
The president of the Junta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda, considered that the “very bad weather conditions” may have been one of the possible causes of the accident, which occurred when the vehicle was continuing in a straight line.
The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, today expressed his dismay at the accident.
“I am horrified by the tragic accident in Pontevedra. I send all my love to the families of the deceased and I wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” the head of government wrote in a message on social networks.
Source: TSF
