A COLLISION    between a dump truck and a panel van carrying newspapers on the Pan-American highway caused one death and two injured, one critically on Friday, May 19.

It took place at around noon  in Natá de Los Caballeros, Coclé Province.

The van driver Anel Méndez González 32, died on the spot and his companion Geremíaz Domínguez, 27, was  cut out of the wreckage by Fire Service responders and transferred to the hospital Dr. Rafael Estévez de Aguadulce, where he remains in critical condition. The truck driver, Luis Peralta, from Herrera is also hospitalized.

The latest road death brings the total in Cocle this year to 35, and pushes the national total past 180 in 139 days.