At least 39 people were killed early Wednesday when a bus carrying 66 migrants from the Darién Gap went off a cliff in Panama, local authorities said. The crash underscored the perils of the increasingly common journey through Central America toward the United States.
All of the passengers were migrants who had paid for the private bus service to reach the shelter on their way north, Gozaine told The Washington Post. Some of the dead were children, she said.
Several other passengers were hospitalized with serious injuries. “We imagine that everyone on that bus has some type of injury,” Gozaine said.
One hospital was treating 10 children between ages 4 and 11 who were injured in the crash, its medical director told a local news station. Three were in critical condition as of early afternoon.
The bus was driven by two Panamanians who were properly licensed, Gozaine said. At least one of the drivers was killed.
Authorities have not identified the nationalities of the migrants. But Ecuador’s embassy in Panama said that 22 of those on the bus were Ecuadorans. Cuba’s foreign minister confirmed on Twitter that Cuban nationals were also among the passengers. As Panamanian officials continue to investigate the crash, limited cell service in the area has made communication difficult.
This is the first fatal accident involving migrants in at least a year, Gozaine said, even as record numbers of migrants have crossed the Darién on their way to the United States. The 66-mile stretch of dense jungle and marsh on the Colombia-Panama border, the sole gap in the 19,000-mile Pan-American Highway from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina, serves as a barrier between South and Central America.
Nearly 250,000 people traversed the Darién in 2022, according to the Panamanian government, nearly double the number during the previous year. More than 150,000 of those were Venezuelans, double the number during the year before.
The next-largest groups were Ecuadorans, Haitians and Cubans. About 16 percent were children and adolescents, according to the International Organization for Migration.
At least 36 people died in the Darién Gap last year, according to data collected by IOM’s Missing Migrants Project. But many deaths in the jungle are never reported and remains are never recovered, the agency said, making it difficult to know exactly how many people have perished on the journey.
In a meeting Tuesday, officials from Colombia and Panama agreed to boost joint military operations in the Darién jungle in an effort to combat irregular migration, drug trafficking and illegal mining.
Juan Pino, Panama’s security minister, said about 37,000 migrants have crossed into the country so far this year.
The Panamanian government requires migrants to take buses to continue their journey to Costa Rica, after crossing the Darién Gap and staying in a refugee camp on the Panama side, said Juan Pappier, acting deputy director for the Americas for Human Rights Watch, who traveled to the area last year.
“If you are forcing people to take these buses, you are responsible for whatever happens in them,” Pappier said. He argued that the fatal crash reveals the “reckless and careless migration policies by Panamanian authorities who simply want the migrants to go away.”
During his visit, Pappier noticed that the buses would start filling up around 3 p.m. and then remain parked until nightfall before departing. Pappier asked a driver why, he recalled, and the driver replied: “Because we don’t want any migrants to escape.”
Migrants spend long hours on these buses, which don’t even make bathroom stops, Pappier said. They’re often so cramped that migrants have to stand in the aisle. One bus crashed last year, injuring several passengers, some of whom Pappier interviewed. None were taken to a hospital for medical attention, the migrants told Pappier. They were simply picked up by another bus to continue on their way.
The crash, he added, “was sadly, pretty unsurprising. It was a matter of time.”
Gozaine told local reporters earlier Wednesday that the bus drivers often prefer to transport migrants at night or in the early morning to avoid traffic.
“They’re usually very desperate to get there quickly after such a difficult journey through the jungle,” she said. “They want to get there quickly to a shelter where they can be attended to and receive food and continue on their path.”
Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo lamented the crash early Wednesday.
“It is with great sadness that I receive the news of the traffic accident in Gualaca, Chiriquí,” he tweeted. “This news is unfortunate for Panama and for the region. The National Government extends its condolences to the families of those killed in this accident, and reiterates its commitment to continue providing humanitarian aid and decent conditions to deal with irregular migration.”