16 killed, 12 injured in truck collision in Dom. Rep.

By Senabri Silvestre

SANTO DOMINGO, Dom. Rep. (AA) – Sixteen people were killed and 12 others injured after two trucks collided in a northwest province of the Dominican Republic, authorities said Sunday.

The accident occurred late Saturday in Maria Trinidad Sanchez province, about 180 kilometers (112 miles) north of the capital of Santo Domingo, according to the National Transit Authority, or Amet.

The agency responsible for regulating traffic said it is not clear what caused the accident but technicians are investigating the circumstances.

“Preliminary results show that the trucks crashed head-on at the crossing known as Majagua”, Amet spokesmen Diego Pesquira told Anadolu Agency.

The victims were a group of Christians who were returning from a religious service in Guaraguao, Pesqueira added.

“All of them were singing praises to God just before their truck crashed with tow trailer”, Miguel Angel de Leon, a youth leader of the Apostolic Faith Church of Sanchez, where the victims belonged, told Anadolu Agency.

Thirteen people were killed immediately and three others died while receiving medical assistance, according to Amet, which said minors and a pregnant woman are among the dead.

The injured, most whom are in serious condition, were taken to area hospitals.

A number of fatalities have occurred on the road that links Santo Domingo with the tourist locale of Samana since it was built in 2008.

Thirteen people were killed and 24 were wounded in a bus accident last June. A week later, five people were killed and others two were injured in another collision.