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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Ryan Fahey

Terrifying moment bus driver high on cocaine kills three tourists and injures 48 others

Three tourists were killed and scores injured when a bus driver high on cocaine crashed his vehicle in the Dominican Republic.

The coach - which was carrying 51 passengers from Mexico and South America - overturned on a highway in the Dominican Republic's municipality of Bavaro on Thursday.

Among the victims were Argentine national and mum-of-one Valeria Medina, 44; Valeria Brovelli, 33 and Peruvian woman Karla Rodríguez, 44.

Medina had to have her arm amputated while paramedics were trying to save her life.

Her husband told Dominican newspaper Diario Libre : "We spent about half an hour waiting for an ambulance.

48 people were injured in the smash (Andrea Nava - BavaroDigital/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

"I took my wife with a firefighter and we left for the IMG Hospital. She lost an arm, I told the firefighter lets not wait any longer."

Franklin Nin, 47, who was at the wheel, was arrested the following day with prosecutors calling for him to be held for up to a year before his trial.

The accident was caught on CCTV, showing the bus careening down the right side of the motorway before flipping and sliding along the road.

The coach full of tourists was en route to Isla Saona, an island off the Dominican's southern tip.

Nin said he "slammed the breaks" after seeing a vehicle crossing in front of him.

But the mystery vehicle failed to show in the surveillance footage.

One of the passengers told Chilean outlet Meganoticias the bus "was not even suitable for transporting such a large number of people".

'It's not how they tell it", she said.

(Andrea Nava - BavaroDigital/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

"The bus driver dodged a bus to avoid crashing, that was not the case."

"He was speeding and went around a curve, which resulted in a rollover. Fortunately, my friends and I rode on the side with the windows facing up, not on the pavement."

Jhordan Abdalla, 28, and his newlywed bride Flavia Martinez, 26, were also counted among the injured.

Flavia - who was in the Dominican with her hubby for their honeymoon - suffered a head injury and had to undergo surgery, Brazilian site G1 reports.

Jhordan, who needed stitches for the cuts on his arms, said: "She is doing much better and getting better every day.

"She has already managed to get out of bed, this is a good sign and she is also less swollen. She's stable and talkative, even a little irritated about staying in the ICU bed."

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