Two Spaniards die, two others injured after crater car plunge
What you need to know:
- The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is in northern Tanzania. It is home to the vast, volcanic Ngorongoro Crater and the “big 5” game
Dar es Salaam. Two citizens of Spain have been reported dead and two others injured after the car they were travelling in lost control and plunged into the Ngorongoro Crater.
The incident is said to have occurred on August 4, this year.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is in northern Tanzania. It’s home to the vast, volcanic Ngorongoro Crater and the “big 5” game (elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino).
Huge herds of wildebeests and zebras traverse its plains during their annual migration.
There are safety rules during the walking tour, police officers are everywhere to ensure safety, signs are put up everywhere to avoid danger, and in case of an emergency, they track and rescue tourists.
Speaking to The Citizen, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) Commissioner, Dr Elirehema Doriye, said yesterday that this was the first accident, explaining that the victims were from one family and that the deceased were a mother and daughter while the injured were a father and child.
“One of the tourists, identified as Maria Elena Renteria Rodriguez ,58, died at the scene of the accident, and her body was taken to Karatu Lutheran Hospital for preservation while other procedures were ongoing,” he said.
Explaining, he said the injured were taken to hospital, and one of them, Ms Ines de Lomas Renteria,18, also passed away while receiving treatment at Fame Hospital in Karatu.
According to him, two of the other injured persons, Ignacio Nicolas de Lomas Renteria,16, and Mr Inigo-Nicolas de Lomas Larrumbide,58, sustained injuries to various parts of their bodies, including the waists, faces, mouths, arms, and legs.
He noted that during this period, it's normally peak time for tourists, and tour operators to take many drivers to fill the gap, and the driver was not conversant with the crater and therefore when they were climbing the crater, he could not manage the hill and lost control, so the car rolled back and plunged into the crater.
Given this, he said that NCCA took care of all the bills, including airlifting the injured to Nairobi and transporting the bodies of the deceased.
He noted that the driver of the car also sustained injuries and is currently undergoing treatment.
