A man from the United States was killed in a road traffic accident near the expat enclave of Jaco Beach, located on the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Preliminary reports suggest that the U.S. citizen may have been performed a reckless overtake and pass maneuver in the vicinity of a bridge without realizing that a propane gas delivery truck was coming in the opposite direction of a two-way traffic road.

The accident also left a passenger injured and in urgent need of hospitalization. It occurred after 3:00 pm on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, near the resort spot of Punta Leona. The U.S. driver and a passenger were heading towards the downtown sector of Jaco Beach when they suffered the head-on collision. They were reportedly traveling in a silver Toyota RAV4, license plate #910618.

The driver may have attempted to overtake traffic in a section where lane-changing affords little visibility; thus, he did not realize that a tanker from Gas Z, a company that distributes propane across Costa Rica, was only meters away. Following the accident, motorists tried to help the occupants of the RAV4; alas, they found that the U.S. driver did not survive the impact and they were not able to extract the passenger, who was rescued and rushed to the hospital by Red Cross paramedics.

The delivery truck driver was not injured, but it took him some effort to exit the crushed cabin of his vehicle. Transit Police officers performed a Breathalyzer test, which did not indicate a blood alcohol level. The delivery driver’s assistant was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Agents from the forensic section of the Office of Judicial investigations report that the departed driver has a last name of Levine and was 53 years old when he lost his life. His passenger has not been identified, but the license plate indicates that the RAV4 may have come from one of the rental car agencies that dot Paseo Colon in San Jose.