OVER  56,000  vehicles  left Panama  City for  the interior by noon on Saturday, Feb.25 and  1,378 tickets were handed out for driving offences.

The exodus exceeds the number who had left for the first day of Carnival weekend  in 2016,

The Joint Task Force (FTC) overlooking  the annual bacchanalian celebrations reported that the majority of sanctions were   for speeding ans  using phones while driving.

The majority of the  sanctions were for  to speeding and the use of phones while driving.

The  Task  Force also attended 121 accidents.

Over 25,000 , police, civil defense staff  (Sinaproc) air patrol (Senan) and ambulance service personnel were on duty on highways and beaches, and hospitals mad medical services were on green alert.