Nine killed in Dominican Republic after truck crashes into bar

By Reuters
September 02, 2024
A large trailer seen overturned on a dangerous curve outside the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez. — Reuters/file
A large trailer seen overturned on a dangerous curve outside the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez. — Reuters/file 

SANTO DOMINGO: At least nine people died on Sunday in the Dominican Republic after a truck crashed into a bar on the Caribbean island nation´s south coast, officials said.

The accident occurred in the early hours in the town of Azua, about 100-kms west of the capital Santo Domingo.

A police source originally put the preliminary death toll at nine, but Joel Montano, director of public health in Azua, lowered it to six, with three people in critical condition.

An additional 32 people were injured in the accident.

Local media published photos of a red truck loaded with avocados that crashed into the bar, and of dead and injured people strewn around the ground.

The driver of the truck fled the scene but police detained a person riding with him as they investigate the accident.