PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, April 8, CMC – At least 27 people were killed and more than 40 others hospitalised after a lorry overturned on a highway south of the capital, on Saturday night, Haitian officials have confirmed.
A local radio station said the nearby town of Petit-Goave was “overwhelmed” and underequipped to deal with the victims of the accident.
Petit-Goave has only one modest hospital. But the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, which has been operating in the region since the 2010 earthquake, helped local authorities to evacuate many of the injured to other medical facilities.
One witness said that the road where the accident occurred was known for being dangerous. At least four people were killed in an accident in the same area last week.
The lorry, which was carrying retail traders, many of them women, was said to have lost its balance as it climbed a steep incline.
The hospital director in the town of Petit-Goave Joel Charles, put the death toll at 27 and said 17 of the victims were found dead at the scene.
“Some of the injuries are critical, a lot of head trauma and broken bones. We need surgeons, other medical specialists and ambulances,” Charles said, adding “the victims need to be transported to hospitals in Port-au-Prince”.
