A devastating late-week road collision has claimed one life and left two others hurt after a garbage truck and a fully loaded passenger bus crashed in the Verón area of the popular Dominican tourist destination Punta Cana on Friday night, local emergency officials have confirmed.
The Verón-Punta Cana Fire Department shared details of the crash with local Dominican newspaper HOY, confirming the identity of the fatality as Wilmer Dionel Martínez Sosa, the driver of the garbage truck. First responders found Sosa trapped beneath the overturned cab of his vehicle after the impact. He was quickly extracted and rushed to a nearby local medical center for urgent emergency care, but medical teams were unable to save his life, and he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Photographs from the crash scene confirm that the garbage truck ended up flipped onto its side following the force of the collision. The second vehicle involved in the incident was a large intercity bus certified to carry up to 80 passengers, which was operating at full capacity when the crash occurred, according to the official incident report.
Two people on the bus sustained non-fatal injuries in the crash, including the bus operator. Emergency medical teams had already reached the scene and transported the injured bus driver for treatment before fire department crews arrived to clear debris and extricate the trapped garbage truck driver. Local authorities have not yet released further details on the potential cause of the collision or the current condition of the two injured victims.