Early Saturday morning, three American tourists and their Costa Rican van driver were killed in a head- on vehicular crash near La Cruz, Guanacaste. They were traveling in a minivan, when they were hit by a truck driven by a Salvadoran citizen, who remains unidentified. The three who were killed were a 46-year old couple by the last name of Niemiec, and their 50-year old fellow passenger whose last name is Williams. Four other adults were hurt in the crash, two of them critically.

Said the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (O.I.J), “The driver of the truck was driving north, apparently drunk, at a high speed, when he lost control of his vehicle and slammed head-on into the minibus traveling in the opposite direction. The driver of the truck was a Salvadoran citizen under the influence (of alcohol). He was turned over to the Fuerza Publica, who transported him to the hospital.” The blood alcohol level of the truck driver has not been released yet by the hospital.

Traffic accidents among tourists are a growing problem in Costa Rica and other Central American countries. According to the World Health organization (WHO), road traffic injuries caused an estimated 1.35 million deaths in 2016, that’s one person killed every 25 seconds – not just tourists – and are usually because of speed, drunk driving, and lack of seat belts and child safety restraints. Tourists in Costa Rica are reminded to use extra caution when driving at night, and to always wear seat belts.
The O.I.J. commented on the traffic tragedy which took the lives of the Niemiecs and Williams, “The driver of the truck was driving north, apparently drunk, at high speed, when he lost control of his vehicle and slammed head-on into the minibus traveling in the opposite direction.” The truck driver failed two blood alcohol tests at the scene, and was put into Preventive Detention pending a thorough accident investigation.

The full names of the victims will be released once the O.I.J and the American Embassy have notified their next of kin.
Americans are once again encouraged to register their travel plans with the SMART Program at the American Embassy, to expedite notification of family in just these circumstances

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