Car Crash in Jatibonico Causes Major Damage to Private Vehicle

A collision late Sunday night in the municipality of Jatibonico, Sancti Spíritus, resulted in significant damage to a private car that crashed into a containment wall on the Central Highway of Cuba. "Driver asleep between Jatibonico and El Majá. No more details," reported a user from the Facebook group 'Accidentes Buses & Camiones,' who shared nighttime images of the scene.

The physical condition of those involved in the accident, as well as their number, the causes, or the exact location of the incident, remain unknown. Due to similarities with images from previous accidents, the event might have occurred at kilometer 415 of the Central Highway.

The vehicle, a small utility car with a private license plate, was left on the road with considerable damage to its body and windshield.

Danger Zone

Several fatal accidents have taken place in the area near Jatibonico. In late November 2023, five people were injured, including a minor with severe injuries, when a jeep driving in the wrong direction collided with a Yutong bus from Ómnibus Nacionales. The crash occurred at the entrance to Jatibonico in the La Playita area, according to social media reports. Journalist Maribel Hernández from Radio Jatibonico specified that the incident happened "in the section between Comunidad El Majá and Jatibonico, along the Central Highway."

In late October 2021, a massive accident in the same municipality resulted in four fatalities and five injuries. The crash occurred around 6:20 am (local time) when a truck veered off the road at kilometer 426 of the Central Highway, in the rural town of El Perico, located at the border with Ciego de Ávila province.

In late May 2021, a fatal traffic accident occurred at kilometer 415 of the Central Highway, when a Yutong bus and a car collided, leaving two dead and three injured. The incident was recorded around 6:40 am in the El Cinco area, near the access road to the Lebrije dam, according to José Lorenzo García, the provincial director of transportation, in statements to the official newspaper Escambray. The Yutong bus was traveling from Havana to eastern Cuba when it collided with a private car, commonly known as an almendrón. The two deceased and the three injured individuals were in the car.

In 2019, two accidents were reported within just a month. In April of that year, a Yutong bus coming from Santiago de Cuba collided with a truck from the state sugar company Azumat at kilometer 423 of the Central Highway in Los Pinos. The crash resulted in one death and eight injuries. A month earlier, a woman died, and four other people were injured after an accident between a car and a truck near the recreational center La Playita and the hamlet El Cinco, about five kilometers from Jatibonico.

In December 2018, a Yutong bus heading to Baracoa collided head-on with a cane-loaded trailer truck, causing one fatality and injuring 16 others near Jatibonico. Two months earlier, another accident left four dead, and a girl severely injured in the same municipality when a tourism car, whose driver died on the spot, crashed into a truck.