BRIEFS. Law

Released mechanic of ‘bus of death’

VÍCTOR AROSEMENA/LA PRENSA

HEARING: Ariel Ortega (Left); Edwin Jimenez (Right); and Próspero Ortega (center). The Ortega brothers were called to trial.955851

Edwin Jiménez, the mechanic tried for his alleged responsibility for the fire that broke out on bus 8B-06 last Oct. 23, killing 18 people, was released yesterday for lack of evidence to convict him of any crime.

A judge ordered a trial for the owner and driver of the bus, however---Ariel and Prospero Ortega---for their failure to maintain the safety of the vehicle and for not allowing passengers to evacuate the bus at the time of the fire.

Passengers of the now infamous "bus de la muerte," or "bus of death," as Panamanians refer to it, could not escape from the burning vehicle because its security door was blocked and could not be opened. The few survivors escaped through the bus’s windows. Most still bear signs of the horrible accident.