Exactly 20 years ago, 45 Panamanians decided to board bus 8B-06 on the Mano de Piedra-Corredor Norte route. Death boarded it too. The journey, estimated at 1 hour and 15 minutes, proceeded normally until the passengers began to feel intense heat, which increased over time. It was then that the vehicle stopped on Martín Sosa Street, in front of the Hosanna Church, and suddenly burst into flames. The toll was fatal: 18 people dead, 5 seriously injured, and the rest with minor injuries. The bus burned so intensely that the flames raised the temperature to approximately 400 degrees Celsius. It was the worst disaster to hit the public transportation system in recent years.
“It was literally hell,” says nurse Lidia Atencio, one of the survivors most affected by that tragedy, and who, along with the rest of the victims, is trying to recover after 20 years. On October 23, 2006, the population was reeling from the referendum that had approved the expansion of the Panama Canal. That was the topic of discussion throughout the country. Atencio, on the other hand, left her home in Ciudad Bolívar, a district of Alcalde Díaz, heading towards the Children’s Hospital in Bella Vista, where she worked in the intensive care unit. She arrived a little earlier than usual because one of her colleagues asked her to cover for her.
The nurse was initially traveling on a bus from Ciudad Bolívar to her destination, but decided to get off and board the 8B-06, because that one would take her faster, but it didn’t. When the bus exploded in front of the church, Atencio was one of the 27 passengers who managed to escape, with the help of another person, although she has very few memories of the moment. “I don’t know how I got out or how I walked. I don’t remember that part of my life,” says the woman, whose body was burned to 30% by the flames. Today, she feels abandoned by the justice system and the state, along with other victims. Due to her condition, she requires frequent use of creams and air conditioning, and she also suffers from lung and stomach problems. “We Panamanians forget, but we don’t. We don’t want another October 23rd,” she lamented.
Bitter Birthday.
Another of the visible faces of this tragedy in these two decades has been Luis Contreras, who also carries on his body the marks of that bitter moment. His wife’s birthday was on October 25th, so he decided to leave their home in Santa Librada to buy her some candy. The idea was to surprise the woman who had been by his side for so much of his life. He recounts that in San Isidro the atmosphere inside the bus was stifling, but the driver continued on. He sensed that something wasn’t right, but in his mind, the intention of captivating his spouse was what motivated him, from his second-to-last seat on the bus.
He had also won the lottery the day before. In other words, there was plenty of reason to be quite cheerful. However, his luck changed in a matter of minutes, and he found himself caught in the raging fire. Contreras was a relatively young man, with a dark complexion and athletic build, but the blaze was too intense. In fact, he says that someone outside the bus managed to break one of the windows, grab him, and pull him out. “If that person hadn’t been there, I would have died,” says this man, who explains that he still suffers from injuries and frequent lung problems.
This victim is worried that he will develop further complications in the coming years and may even die from the after effects of the accident. He says he constantly requests appointments with pulmonologists at the health facilities, but faces difficulties getting them. At the same time, he laments that little has changed in the public transportation system since then. For example, he pointed to the new vehicles used to transport passengers, known as Metrobús pictured below, which he believes have not met users’ expectations. “We feel bad and saddened by the injustice done to us survivors.
The State has not cared about the transportation system or our physical condition,” says the official, who, along with Atencio, agrees that they were martyrs of a transportation system that for years had violated regulations, with a certain degree of complicity from the authorities. In 2006, an estimated 50 Panamanians died each year as victims of being run over by the popularly known “red devils,” pictured below, and although the 8B-06 did not have the characteristics of that type of vehicle, it was part of that generalized disorder in the public transportation system. To give you an idea, the 8B-06 had no emergency exits, and the windows were practically sealed.
Some windows could only be opened two feet, and others less than ten inches, making it virtually impossible for anyone weighing over 170 pounds or taller than 5 feet 5 inches to get out. The bus on the Mano de Piedra-Corredor Norte route had a capacity for more than 40 seated passengers, but that day it was carrying standing passengers. Just as it was about to Ironically, that bus was acquired between 1999 and 2004, financed by the National Bank, as part of a so-called transport modernization plan in which dozens of this type of bus were acquired.
‘I Lost My Family’.
While some are still trying to recover from the physical injuries left by this disaster, others are dealing with the emotional blows, like Edgar Escartín, who lost his wife Zuleika de Escartín and his children, Alvin and Josué, aged eight and four, respectively. Around 1:50 pm, while driving his taxi, Escartín received a call from his wife telling him she would be taking their son, Alvin, to the Real Madrid soccer school in Panama, in the Ancón district. They specifically agreed to meet in front of the Hosanna church before heading to the academy. That was the last time he spoke with his wife.
Once he approached the meeting point, Escartín recounts that he observed a lot of smoke and people in the area, which is why he thought it could be students from the University of Panama staging a protest. “I started calling and calling my wife. The cell phone rang and no one answered, so I decided to park my taxi near the place where the incident occurred,” he says. As he approached the burning bus, he saw several distressed neighbors around the fire and perhaps thought that his family was on public transport, but he still did not resign himself and decided to look for them at the Children’s Hospital, the Santo Tomás Hospital, and at the Arnulfo Arias Madrid Hospital Complex of the Social Security Fund.
He also did not see the names of his two little ones, nor that of his beloved, on the list of survivors of the National Police, nor of other security agencies, such as the Fire Department. Doubts began to plague him as the flames continued to consume part of 8B-06, but he believed he might find his son playing soccer. “It was my last hope,” he says. He immediately went to Clayton, to the Real Madrid Foundation where his son practiced, but his coaches, including René Mendieta, a former national team player, assured him that they did not arrive at the playing field.
“It was very hard. That’s when I understood they were gone. I want you to know something: they prepared me before they left, because they took me on a spiritual retreat and that strengthened my faith,” says Escartín, who rebuilt his life and now runs a soccer school called Los Ángeles de JAZ, using the initials of the family members he lost. Now, she also demands better transportation services for Panamanians, so that the deaths of her three family members will not be in vain. “I lost three people I loved and I saw two psychologists, but now I take refuge in God. The Panamanian people have sacrificed a lot and deserve changes,” she says.
The Hero.
In the midst of the tragedy there were also heroes who today cannot tell of their feat, but their families can testify to it. On that fateful October 23rd, Margarita Sepúlveda was traveling with her then-husband, Jorge Luis Núñez, and their two-year-old son, Jafet Núñez. They lived in the Mano de Piedra neighborhood and were heading to the city center. Like all the survivors, he says he felt “hot,” but the bus continued on its way and when they reached the point of the incident he had only a few minutes to react, so it was at that moment that his partner decided to risk his physical safety and break one of the windows.
Núñez not only saved his family’s lives, but also managed to rescue several other passengers. Ultimately, he couldn’t hold on any longer, as the fire inside the vehicle intensified, and he had to jump out. This silent hero died two years later at the hands of assailants, when he arrived home, but both his family and other passengers of the 8B-06 remember him for how, at that moment, with his feet he broke the windows of the bus and prevented more deaths that tragic day.
Road Safety Education.
David Ramírez, who lost his son (also named David) in this tragedy and who served as Director of Road Safety Education for the Transit Authority between 2014 and 2019, stated that he accepted the position because he felt he could help from this new perspective. “I didn’t want to keep crying anymore, but rather help my country, and that’s why I took on this role,” he added. For example, he reported that they declared October Road Safety Week so that the date wouldn’t be forgotten, and that they will sign an agreement with the Ministry of Education to include this topic in the curriculum.
“It cannot be denied that the transportation system still has shortcomings, but today we are seeing the results of the struggle we began as users in 2006,” he said. Two decades later, Atencio, Contreras, Escartín, Sepúlveda, and Ramírez are trying to rebuild their lives from different perspectives. The tragedy of October 23, 2006, marked them, both physically and emotionally, forever. Today, they are the faces of the long-suffering commuters demanding a better transportation system.
(This article was originally published in 2016 and has been updated with some information to commemorate the tragedy of bus 8B-06, which occurred 20 years ago).
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