Two people were injured, the driver and the co-pilot, after the vehicle crashed into a tree in Holguín
14ymedio, Holguín, 15 July 2024 — Two people were injured, the driver and the co-pilot, after crashing the hearse against a tree this Saturday at the intersection of Martí Street and the Central Highway, in Holguín.
The vehicle, which was not transporting a coffin, apparently “lost its brakes” and went through a garden of one of the residential buildings until it embedded itself in a tree trunk, a witness to the accident reported to 14ymedio. The wounded, with minor injuries, were immediately rescued.
In recent years the Cuban government has received several donations for hearses, but the transfer of coffins by means of this transport is increasingly deficient. The service has had to be assumed by private and state cars not licensed to carry coffins, or even by carts pulled by horses and oxen.
The vehicle, which was not carrying a coffin, apparently “lost its brakes” and went through a garden of one of the residential buildings until it embedded itself in a tree trunk
Due to the poor condition of many of these vehicles and the lack of maintenance, they often break down on the way to the cemetery or on the road. In Las Tunas, for example, last February, of the 13 hearses that the province had, only four were in working condition. Two are in the capital, and the other two are in Colombia and Jobabo.
“The fundamental cause of the low technical availability of these cars is the lack of tires and electrical components, mainly batteries,” the deputy director of Hygiene and Necrology of the province, Raúl Ernesto Martínez, explained at the time. To this is added, of course, the general lack of fuel, spare parts and modern vehicles on the Island.
In any case, the families are the ones who suffer the most. The delay of the drivers to pick up the deceased and the bureaucracy of the Communal Services are well known. The sector is constantly criticized, and many Cubans, feeling helpless, go on social networks to denounce the ineffectiveness of the authorities.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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