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Bus crashes into ambulance, 7 hurt

An elderly woman suffered head injuries and a broken leg on her way to a doctor’s appointment.

A 92-year-old woman was injured when the ambulance carrying her to a doctor's appointment was hit by a bus in Arraiján yesterday.

María Rodríguez González was in an ambulance owned by the Hospital Aquilino Tejeira de Penonomé. She was headed to an appointment in Panama City with a cardiologist when the accident happened.

She suffered severe head trauma and a broken leg in the wreck, which also involved four other vehicles and injured six others.

The bus driver, Eduardo Sarmiento, who operates the Aguadulce-Panama route, said he was unable to stop in time when he came upon a row of stopped vehicles in the Loma Cová area.

Of the six others injured, three were in the ambulance, including the driver, Hernán García, assistant Rosa Ramos and González's daughter, Ana Elvira Rodríguez.

Witnesses said the bus was speeding when the accident happened.

It is the second serious incident involving a bus in less than a week. Saturday morning, two people were killed when two buses collided while racing each other to get to the next stop on Vía Transistmica.