Overview:
A commuter bus carrying employees to the Caracol Industrial Park overturned Monday on the Madras bend — a notoriously harmful curve alongside Nationwide Street 6 in northeast Haiti — killing eight individuals and injuring at the very least 26. The crash highlights persistent issues of safety on the important however poorly maintained route.
FORT-LIBERTE —- A bus carrying employees to the Caracol Industrial Park close to the northeast border with the Dominican Republic overturned early morning on the notoriously harmful Madras bend alongside Nationwide Street 6, killing at the very least eight individuals and injuring 26 others in one of many Northeast Division’s deadliest accidents this yr.
The crash occurred round 6 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8, when the yellow-and-black employee transport bus from Limonade— a commune located lower than 10 miles from Cap-Haïtien within the Northern Division— misplaced management getting into the sharp curve, witnesses stated. The car rolled violently, ejecting a number of passengers and trapping others within the crushed body.
“It’s at all times like this within the morning — they rush so we’re not late,” passenger Judenel Paul, who survived the crash, informed The Haitian Occasions.
“If we’re late any day, we are going to lose our jobs,” Chedeline Alphonse, one other survivor, stated. “Each morning, we board these buses hoping to reach protected and sound. We have now no selection.”
A few of the Caracol Industrial Park employees on the bus, together with Paul and Alphonse, stated rushing, a poorly maintained highway floor, an underinflated tire and mechanical points might have contributed to the accident.
The accident renews longstanding issues about Nationwide Street 6 (RN6), a vital route linking Cap-Haïtien to Ouanaminthe and the Dominican Republic. The RN6 hall has seen repeated lethal crashes, together with a truck accident that killed 4 individuals in Terrier-Rouge in 2024 and a passenger van crash close to Morne Casse the identical yr. Authorities and residents have lengthy warned that the Madras bend is particularly treacherous, with a number of main accidents reported yearly.
Regardless of authorities guarantees to rehabilitate the freeway, RN6 nonetheless lacks primary security options resembling guardrails, reflective markers, signage and dependable lighting.
Households mourn as accidents on Nationwide Street 6 spotlight authorities negligence, poor infrastructure, unsafe and reckless driving
“It was chaos,” a primary responder says
First responders from the Trou-du-Nord brigade arrived greater than two hours after the crash to what they described as a devastating scene.
“It was absolute chaos,” stated Emmanuel Joseph. “Victims had been mendacity on the bottom, some immobile, others crying for assist. Ambulances had been speeding forwards and backwards, and residents had been serving to nevertheless they might.”
Trou-du-Nord Mayor Eddlyn Étienne Joseph confirmed eight deaths — six on the scene and two later within the hospital. 5 of the victims had been males and three had been girls.
“Each morning, we board these buses hoping to reach protected and sound. We have now no selection.”
Chedeline Alphonse, Caracol Industrial Park employee
Dozens of injured employees had been rushed to a number of medical facilities, together with Gasin, CEMEFCO, Trou-du-Nord, Los Angeles Hospital and the Milot Hospital.
5 sufferers — 4 girls and a person — had been admitted to Los Angeles Hospital. Eight extra had been handled in Trou-du-Nord, with 5 transferred to Milot in essential situation. CEMEFCO acquired eight victims, and at the very least 5 others had been taken on to Milot.
Many suffered fractures, head trauma and extreme contusions, in keeping with medical employees.
Employees say unsafe commutes are the norm
For hundreds of employees on the Caracol Industrial Park, transportation is a day by day gamble. Many buses are previous, overcrowded and poorly maintained, with drivers pressed to reach on time to keep away from employees dropping a day’s pay.
“Each morning we board these buses hoping to reach protected and sound. We have now no selection,” stated employee Chedeline Alphonse. “If we arrive late, we lose our day’s work.”
No formal car inspection or driver coaching system exists for the fleets transporting staff to the commercial park, one of many largest employers within the Northeast.
Fireplace brigades from Caracol, Trou-du-Nord, and Fort-Liberté responded, however — as in lots of elements of Haiti — had no correct rescue instruments.
“We don’t have hydraulic cutters or extraction gear,” stated Joseph. “We did what we might with our arms. It’s heartbreaking.”
Residents say this newest tragedy ought to compel instant motion on a significant highway with little to no security construction.
“We maintain dropping our individuals on this highway,” stated witness Julienne Sénord. “What number of extra accidents earlier than one thing modifications?”