Highway crash kills two, injures four in Ecuador

A serious traffic accident on the Alóag-Santo Domingo highway on Wednesday night claimed two lives and left four people injured. The collision, which occurred around 8:25 PM near Tandapi in the Mejía canton, involved a truck, a trailer, and a car. The impact ignited a fire that engulfed the vehicles.

Emergency services, including paramedics from the Mejía Fire Department, police, and Opevial, responded to the scene. According to the National Transit Police's SIAT unit, the incident was a head-on longitudinal collision. The truck and car caught fire after the impact.

Paramedics provided pre-hospital care to four individuals, including two minors, before transporting them to hospitals. An 11-year-old boy suffered a head injury and second-degree burns, while a 10-year-old boy sustained second-degree burns on his lower extremities and hands. A 37-year-old woman with multiple knee injuries and second-degree burns was taken to Hospital Enrique Garcés. A 42-year-old man with chest contusions and foot and ankle trauma was also transported to the same hospital.

Two unidentified individuals, a man and a woman, were declared deceased at the scene and their bodies were taken to the morgue. The three vehicles involved were impounded for technical inspection. The congestion caused by the accident led to a second collision minutes later, though no serious injuries were reported in that incident. Authorities advised extreme caution on the highway due to heavy traffic.