Skip to main content

A road accident in Colombia involving several vehicles kills at least 2 people and injures 19

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A pile-up at a toll booth on a busy highway in central Colombia on Wednesday morning killed at least two people and injured 19, local authorities said. Witnesses described several explosions while images of the collision showed vehicles engulfed in flames.

The crash happened when a milk truck lost control of its brakes and collided with six other vehicles and a motorcycle that were at a toll booth on a road in the Cundinamarca region, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the capital, Bogota, Gov. Emilio Rey said on X.

Rey said the injured are being treated in nearby hospitals, but did not provide details on their conditions.

Images broadcast by Colombian media showed people crying while helping or rescuing those who were trapped, vehicles in flames and destroyed.

“I saw when the truck went through the toll booth, then there was an explosion, it overturned, and there were strong explosions and vehicles burning,” Hollman Osma, a witness to the accident, told local outlet Noticias Caracol. “There was absolutely nothing that could be done.”

At least 11 ambulances, firefighters and police officers were deployed to the area, Rey told Noticias Caracol. The road remains closed.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

By WTOP Staff
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
Read Next Story

Related Stories

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

Police warn families of Tiananmen crackdown dead not to visit graves on 37th anniversary

Women are the first caregivers in this Ebola outbreak and the most at risk