BUS ACCIDENT LEAVES 16 DEAD IN PERU

16 DIE IN ACCIDENT IN
PERUVIAN MOUNTAINS

LIMA (www.laht.com) - At least 16 people were killed when a bus plunged into a 200-meter (655-foot) ravine between the central Andean city of Huancayo and Pampas, a town in Huancavelica region, the official Peruvian news agency Andina reported Sunday. The accident occurred Saturday afternoon, when the Señor de Ataco company bus apparently experienced mechanical problems and fell into the ravine about 29 kilometers (18 miles) from Pampas. The driver and 12 passengers were killed instantly, while three other people died in the hours after the accident, Andina reported, citing police. The injured, including eight children, suffered multiple bruises and fractures. The injured are being treated at the clinic in Pampas, with the most seriously hurt passengers taken to hospitals in Huancayo. Rescue teams worked late into the night at the accident scene, which is in rough terrain in a remote area. The rescue of the wounded was hampered by the rugged area where the vehicle fell, highway police said.

Most passengers were traders on their way to Huancavelica to sell food and craft products at the fair Colcabamba. Traffic accidents killed 3,500 people last year, left 46,000 others injured and caused $1 billion in losses in Peru. Road accidents have killed 30,000 people in the past eight years in the Andean nation. Peru, which has many problems with its roads and a large number of old vehicles, has the highest death rate from traffic accidents in Latin America - 30 deaths per 10,000 vehicles annually, a report released last December said. Accidents of this kind are relatively common in Peru, and are generally due to negligence from bus drivers, to the vehicles’ poor condition or to the country’s difficult geography, which makes it risky to drive on many roads.


The Peruvian National Ombudsman’s Office says there are “profound weaknesses” in the government’s ability to prevent traffic accidents in Peru. Experts contend the accident rate in Peru’s interior is extremely high due to the poor condition of roads. We live in a material world that is filled with danger at every step. We can not protect us from misfortune through our own strength, but must seek shelter from the Almighty.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Hearing, chanting and remembering the Supreme Lord, serving His lotus feet, offering prayers, serving Him, worshipping His deity form, making the Lord one’s friend and surrendering everything to Him. If one is absorbed in this nine-fold process, he will realize his eternal nature and liberate himself from the path of birth and death. ... There is danger in this world at every step and therefore, one can never know when some tragedy will strike. Therefore, one should take close shelter of the Lord. This is confirmed in the Shrimad Bhagavatam, “For one who has accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Mukunda or the giver of liberation, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoofprint. The kingdom of God should be our goal, not this material world where there is danger at every step of life.” (Bhag. 10.14.58).

Commentary of “Mahabharata Summation”
to the Sixth Chapter of the Adi Parva,
entitled: “The Pandavas Divine Birth”
New Vrindavana Community - June, 1985.
http://philosophy.ru/library/asiatica/indica/itihasa/mahabharata/eng/