Man who died in horrific road accident on Friday named

Who could have failed to be shocked on hearing of the young man who died last Friday afternoon when his vehicle collided with a tourist excursion bus travelling along the GC500 near Balito. An outpouring of grief soon followed as the victim was named as a resident of Arguineguín named Jacob, aged just 29, active in local politics, and sports having played for two local football teams, he worked in one of the Spar supermarkets in Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria, and had become a father only seven months earlier.

The accident occurred at 15.14 and Friday afternoon.  The 112 Canary Islands Emergency and Security Coordinating Centre (Cecoes) received an alert reporting that a car and a service bus had collided head-on on the GC-500, at kilometer 35 located by the Barranco de Balito, in the southern municipality of Mogán. Firefighters from Puerto Rico were immediately deployed along with Local Police, Traffic Civil Guard and two ambulances from the Canary Emergency Service (SUC), one medicalised and  the other carrying basic life support, according to the report from 112.

A doctor who happened to be travelling on the excursion passenger transport vehicle identified himself and almost immediately attended to the driver of the car who he found was in cardio-respiratory arrest, so he was the first to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers, which were then continued by the staff of the SUC ambulance, both basic and advanced. However, Jacobs death was eventually confirmed at the scene.

Agents from the Guardia Civil Traffic units initiated an investigation to determine the causes of the accident. According to the initial hypothesis, the driver of the car appears to have invaded the oncoming lane for reasons that are still being investigated. It is well known that many drivers travel far too quickly around this long corner, and so speed could well have been a factor.  What seems clear from the initial images is that the impact was very sudden, and according to witnesses the bus driver simply had no time to react.  Civil Protection and Policia Local from Puerto Rico also collaborated with emergency resources.

Jacob now becomes the sixth fatality from major traffic accidents on the southern roads of Gran Canaria in recent weeks, following the awful crash between motorcycles near Veneguera and a collision near Pasito Blanco.