The accident that injured eight people – at least two seriously – on the EN125 last week in Guia is now thought to have been caused by the sudden death at the wheel of the driver.
As we went to press, an autopsy on Sérgio Catarino, 57, was said to be imminent but police are confident that he collapsed before the crash as there was “no sign of any kind of braking”, they told Jornal de Notícias.
Catarino was driving the Frota Azul bus last Thursday morning when it ploughed into an empty house at the side of the road between Guia and Zoomarine theme park.
Eight passengers were on board at the time, and only one escaped without injury. The rest – including two Canadian tourists and a Nepalese – were all treated for various cuts and bruises.
Two passengers were considered in a “serious condition” and one of those is understood to be still in hospital.
The stretch of road is just 300 metres from where Algarve musician Miguel Drago was killed in a head-on collision three weeks ago.
National tabloid Correio da Manhã writes that locals are “increasingly worried” about more accidents – and all point to the ‘problem’ being the over-congestion of the road now that the A22 has been turned into a tolled road.
Elsewhere, 10 people were injured on the road to Ludo when a trailer connected to a tractor turned turtle at the “Festa da Pinha” on Saturday (May 2).
They were left stuck under the trailer while firefighters and INEM emergency services attempted to free them.
While they were all taken to Faro Hospital, a source told us that only one remains in hospital.
The accident happened at around 1pm on the road to Ludo, Almancil, and involved a number of emergency vehicles.
