According to the fire department, ten injured “were taken to a health center”. All the passengers on the bus were indigenous people of the Waorani tribe.
A bus carrying 35 passengers, all of them indigenous to the Waorani tribe, overturned on Tuesday in a suburb of Quito, killing nine people and seriously injuring ten others, the Ecuadorian capital’s fire department said.
“Unfortunately, the death toll became heavier”, reaching “the nine dead”, said this source through X, after initially announcing that the accident caused eight deaths.
Ten injured “were taken to a health center”, always according to the fire department.
CONAIE, the largest indigenous collective in the country, announced through the same social networking site that the victims belonged to the Waorani ethnic group and came from the Kawimeno community, in the province of Oreyana (east), through which the Amazon flows.
According to Ecuadorian media, the indigenous people were going to Quito to ask the authorities to continue oil production in the so-called block 43, in the Yasuni National Park, where it was decided to close oil wells, following the result of the August 2023 referendum.
In this public consultation, 59% of voters were in favor of ending oil drilling in the zone, which is home to several indigenous communities, some of whom live in self-imposed isolation.
Some communities are in favor of continued oil extraction from block 43 as it is a source of income for them.
The accident happened while the bus was moving on a road that connects the towns of Pifo and Papagiakta, east of the capital.
Road accidents are among the leading causes of death in Ecuador.
Source :Skai
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