SIGN UP FOR OUR By Wendy Anders
Woman injured in train accident yesterday late afternoon near San José’s La Sabana park is transferred in critical condition to the hospital. (Jorge Navarro for La Nación)
This year’s 85 accidents involving vehicles and trains leave no doubt that basic safety infrastructure along the urban railway that bisects San José, Costa Rica’s congested city center is urgently needed.
The figure was reported in Costa Rica’s Spanish daily La Nación yesterday along with details on two serious train accidents that occurred in a less than 12-hour span, both in the same general area. Another car-train collision was reported by CRHoy.com just after 7:00 p.m.
In yesterday’s first two accidents, one involved a motorist and another a pedestrian. Both remain hospitalized and in delicate condition, reported local media. The incidents did not interrupt train service nor cause any others direct harm.
At 5:23 yesterday afternoon in the midst of downpours and rush hour, as a 20-year-old woman approached the train stop across the street from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) in South Sabana (Sabana Sur), she was run over and dragged by a train.
The woman, identified as Yury Francini Mata Barrantes, was supposedly walking along the edge of the railway tracks after leaving work when the train knocked her down, reported La Nación.
“She was possibly dragged between three and four meters by the train, had injuries to the chest, abdomen, and lower extremities (legs). It took about 15 minutes to release her, with the help of a special team that used airbags,” said Paulo Monge, Red Cross paramedic, to La Nación.
Firefighters supported the rescue with hydraulic and other equipment. Mata was transferred in critical condition to the San Juan de Dios Hospital.
Earlier in the day, at 6:40 a.m., a light vehicle crashed into the front of a train near the Vargas Calvo cemetery, on the southwest edge of downtown San José, continued La Nación.
Witnesses told authorities they observed how a Toyota RAV4 traveling from the Numar factory west towards the San José Municipality building suddenly turned right to enter onto 28th Street and reach 10th Avenue. The driver turned just when the train, which was sounding its horn, was approaching the intersection.
The victim was identified as Juan Ramon Cerda Torrente, 47, a resident southern San José’s of Alajuelita district, and was rushed to the San Juan de Dios Hospital where he remains in delicate condition, confirmed the Red Cross and medical personnel to La Nación.
Rescue workers from the Fire Department and the Red Cross had to use hydraulic equipment to extricate Cerda from his car.
Finally, minutes before 7:00 p.m. yesterday, reported CRHoy.com, another car crashed into a train, this time near the industrial park in the East San José near Calle Blancos de Goicoechea. The report did not indicate whether any people were injured in the accident.
In two of the more dramatic of dozens of accidents earlier this year, in March, Adrian Bonilla Solis died after his car collided with a train near the Atlantic train station in San José’s, California neighborhood.
And in April, two trains collided head-on along the Pavas line near the Jack’s factory leaving 106 people injured, reported La Nación.
