Mar del Plata is in mourning. A bus from line 532 went off the rails this afternoon in front of the rambla, sowing chaos in one of the city’s busiest areas. The toll is devastating: an 18-year-old girl lost her life and six people were hospitalized with serious injuries. It all happened around 7 p.m., during peak hour, when the rambla stop was packed with people waiting for the bus.
Bus number 173 was traveling along Boulevard Peralta Ramos when, for reasons still under investigation, it veered off its lane, jumped the curb, and plowed into the bus stop bay. Witnesses couldn’t believe it: the vehicle was speeding, didn’t brake at all, and ran over shelters, signs, and worst of all, the people who were there. It only stopped when it crashed into the skate park barriers, just meters from where a bunch of kids were skateboarding.
Emergency services, firefighters, and police arrived immediately. Ambulances were overwhelmed. Six injured were taken to the Interzonal General Acute Hospital (HIGA) in critical condition. The medical report is chilling: a man with head trauma, loss of consciousness, and a fractured femur; a woman with head trauma, loss of consciousness, and a scalp laceration; another with a hip fracture; another with a femur fracture; another with head trauma and pelvic fracture. And to top it off, a 15-year-old boy with facial trauma and a broken arm.
The fatal victim is an 18-year-old young woman who died instantly. Her body was trapped under the chassis, and firefighters had to do precision work to extract it. Scientific Police are already at the scene to gather evidence and determine how the hell this happened.
Prosecutor Germán Vera Tapia has opened a case for negligent homicide and negligent injuries. The bus driver is at the disposal of the courts but has not been arrested yet. However, they requested a breathalyzer test to see if he was drunk or something. The initial hypothesis points to a mechanical failure, but experts will thoroughly inspect the vehicle to clear up doubts.
The accident site is a neuralgic point for public transport in Mar del Plata. More than ten lines stop there, and there are always people waiting. At that time, after seven in the evening, it’s a beehive. Residents are shocked: «It looked like a horror movie, the bus came like a missile,» said a woman who was nearby. Another witness said he heard a dull thud and then the heart-wrenching screams of people.
The Municipality of General Pueyrredon issued a statement confirming the tragedy and offering assistance to the victims’ families. Meanwhile, the rambla is left with a trail of debris, broken glass, and bloodstains. The skate park, usually full of kids, is cordoned off and guarded by police.
This is not an accident; it’s a massacre. A bus that goes to hell and kills an 18-year-old girl cannot be just «a mechanical failure.» There are responsibilities here: the driver’s, the company’s, the nonexistent controls. The courts must act quickly and with full force. But in the meantime, a family is destroyed and six people are fighting for their lives in a hospital. Mar del Plata mourns and demands answers.
che otro accidente mas y siempre los mismos? para mi estos colectiveros son un peligro deberian sacarlos a patadas la culpa es del gobierno q no controla viven de arriba una piba muerta por su ineptitud justicia ya o hacemos justicia por mano propia VLLC!
Para mí esto es un asesinato de clase, el capitalismo nos mata de hambre y el servicio público es una mugre. La piba de 18 años laburaba todo el día, seguro venía del chango, y un bondi de la patronal la mató. Me parece que el sistema prioriza los autos de los ricos y manda a morir a los pibes. Viva la lucha, fuera estos rancios.