FIVE AMBULANCES were used to transport 15 injured to the Rafael Hernández Hospital in the city of David, Chiriqui on Friday July 28  following the third major incident involving buses in recent weeks.

Two earlier incidents had emergency services attending to a total of 31 who needed hospital treatment.

Transport authorities have identified alcohol, speed and cell phone use as the major contributor to accidents on Panama's roads which claimed over 25o lives  in the first six months of the year,

Speed was believed to be the cause of the latest collision between  a pickup and a bus  near a bridge over the Fonseca River on the Tolé route in San Lorenzo. Firemen had to use jaws-of-life equipment  to extract  one of the victims from  the twisted wreckage.