Ecuador Carnival Death Toll
At 23
Quito - At least 23 people
died and 50 were injured during Ecuador's four-day carnival, police
said on Wednesday.
Traffic accidents due to alcohol consumption and other violent
incidents were the main causes during the carnival held on Feb.
21-24.
Some 40 people were injured when the bleachers at a bull-fighting
ring collapsed in San Felipe, near the Andean city of Latacunga.
The authorities attributed the collapse to overloading. "There were
too many people. The accident happened suddenly and nobody was able
to react," a witness said.
The Red Cross said it had handled 789 emergency calls during the
carnival, 55 for traffic accidents, 60 for blackouts and 234 for
medical services.
To guarantee security during the carnival, the police deployed
16,000 officers throughout the country.
In a separate incident, a British man was killed in the western
province of Manabi. Benjamin Robert Famsam Samphiere, 31, who was
doing research on a species of apes, was shot dead by a peasant who
mistook him for a criminal. |
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