The regional prosecutor’s office of Chiriquí in Panama reported on Wednesday that they had already handed over the remains of the Cuban victims of last February’s serious bus accident to their relatives. Although Panamanian authorities have not specified the number of Cubans who died, Migration previously said two women from the island were on board the unit.
María Eugenia Batista, municipal representative of Gualaca and responsible for the investigation, pointed out that a month after the accident, have delivered the remains of 21 victims from Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama. Five bodies of Venezuelan nationals were handed over on Wednesday and, the official assured, there are approaches to the Cameroonian authorities for the return of their nationals.
On February 15, a spectacular accident occurred involving a bus transporting 66 migrants from a shelter in Darién on the Colombian border to Chiriquí province, bordering Costa Rica. The accident caused the deaths of two Panamanians and 37 migrants of various nationalities including Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, Nigeria and Eritrea, according to the migration report.
Batista pointed out that as of this Wednesday they still had 18 bodies in the morgue but talks were being held with the governments concerned about the transfer of the remains.
Batista pointed out that as of this Wednesday they still had 18 bodies in the morgue, but talks were being held with the governments concerned about handing over the remains and belongings found at the scene of the accident. The unclaimed bodies of migrants will be buried this Friday in David, the capital of Chiriquí province.
When the tragedy struck, these migrants had left behind the Darien Jungle, one of the most dangerous steps on their journey to the United States, where hundreds of people pass through each year and suffer extortion, robbery, rape, and even death at the hands of organized crime. .
2022 ended with a record number of 248,284 migrants crossing the jungle, mostly Venezuelans, which increased by about 50 times compared to 2021 to 150,327 last year. They are followed by Ecuadorians with 29,356, Haitians with 22,435 and Cubans with 5,961.
According to the Panamanian government, 28% of those crossing the dangerous jungle are women and 72% are men, and 16% of the migrants were accompanied by minors. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that 36 people lost their lives late last year, but the UN agency concedes the number could be higher because many migrants perish in the jungle whose bodies go unreported or rescued .
Panama offers help in emergency shelters in Darién, where there are also international humanitarian organizations. They are then taken to aid centers in Chiriquí on buses paid for by the migrants themselves, from where they can continue on their way to the United States.
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