Two dead and one critical after car crashes into house

Scene of the accident in Arure (Image source: Ramon Hernandez/facebook.com)

A car crashed into the wall of a building in a bend on the main GM-1 road in the village of Arure, municipality of Valle Gran Rey, on Sunday night hitting two persons outside the house.

The alarm was raised just before 7 pm and when the emergency services arrived at  the scene a man and a woman who had been in front of the house at the time had been fatally injured, while another woman, who was the passenger in the crashed car, was extracted from the vehicle alive with life-threatening injuries. She was transferred by SUC helicopter to the university hospital in Tenerife, where she remains in critical condition. Meanwhile the male driver of the crashed vehicle was transferred to La Gomera's hospital with less severe injuries.

Several people near the scene of the horrendous crash had to be treated for shock and the whole island of La Gomera remains shaken by the incident. Valle Gran Rey has declared three days of mourning and all events have been cancelled there.

Drive carefully...

Scene of today's accident. (Image: gomeraverde.es)

...on La Gomera's roads. Today's accident shows that you have to treat the roads here with the greatest respect. It happened just around midday in good driving conditons on the main road between La Gomera's capital and the northern town of Hermiga (GM-1). This road is in very good condition, but all roads here have a lot of twists and turns. The cause of the accident is still being investigated, but the barriers on the side of the road are said to have slowed the vehicle on impact, preventing the vehicle from tumbling into the ravine below. The two ''younger'' occupants of the crashed car thankfully escaped with minor injuries.

Image: pclagomera

GENERAL ADVICE (not relating to this accident):

There's a lot more tourists about in hired cars these days and most of them are not used to rural mountain roads, often driving erratically and/or being distracted by the beautiful scenery, adding to the danger. If you're driving on La Gomera, stay alert and always indicate and let locals pass when/where possible. This allows you to enjoy the scenery at your own pace and lets the local driver meet his appointment. Local drivers are generally driving with a lot of foresight, communication and skill, and even if it isn't immediately obvious to the visitor, they generally know what they are doing. So don't rely on the fact that accidents on La Gomera are few and far between and do your bit to keep the roads safe. They can't be straightened here, you know...

Lucky escape

The driver of the van above miraculously escaped with only very minor injuries after the van he was travelling in left the main road to the north La Gomera town of Hermigua on a stretch with several hairpin bends. The van skidded and went down a very steep incline before coming to a stop in a small vineyard yesterday. It is supposed that drizzle which had fallen earlier had made the road slippery.