This Monday, November 1st, 87 Haitians trying to enter illegally in the Dominican Republic, aboard of a truck have been the victim of a traffic accident in the municipality of Villa Vasquez, northwest of the Dominican Republic.

Alberto Peña Rodríguez, Dominican driver seems to have lost control of his truck and crashed against a utility pole. From the testimony of a passenger, the driver thought he was pursued by a border guards car (which was not the case). About 38 Haitians were injured in the accident, including 23 seriously.

Teams of civil defense, firefighters, police and volunteers quickly intervened on the scene to rescue victims. The wounded were transported to hospital in Villa Vasquez, in the province of Montecristi.

Elioset Castro González, director of the hospital in Villa Vasquez, said that the majority of the wounded suffered of serious injuries and some were in critical condition (fractured pelvis, upper and lower limbs and other bruises in various body parts). He mentioned that some cases had been redirected to the Regional Hospital José María Cabral and Báez Hospital in northern Santiago.

The police reported that Alberto Peña Rodríguez, the truck driver, although wounded, fled the scene but his accomplice, Idilio de los Santos, a native of Jimaní was seriously injured in the accident. According to the testimony of Piguí Sonson Foot, one of Haitian illegal, the 87 passengers came from a village near Port-au-Prince, had paid a total of $9.000 dollars to the smuggler. He said that the driver had passed by the North to avoid too many military checkpoints in the South.

An investigation is open, in order to determine how this truck charged with Haitians could cross the border and controls strengthened since the outbreak of cholera. A police source revealed that the truck driver, was an individual known to the police and he has already gone twice to the Court for smuggling undocumented persons from Haiti. Police suspect a Dominican to be at the head of an organization that makes human trafficking, a certain "Búfalo" which lies at Villa Elisa.

The 64 other Haitians (including minor injuries) were arrested and handed over to the migration to later be repatriated to Haiti.

S/ HaitiLibre