Fallas celebrations in Valencia this year drew more than three million people from out of town. They came from near and far and despite some rain it was a great success. Hotels are booked a full year in advance, and some are fully booked even earlier than that. Many young people sleep on the beach, which is not a bad alternative to trying to drive back to their homes at some very early hour of the morning.
A number of young students attending Barcelona universities travelled to Valencia by bus, and they returned on the morning of the 20th leaving Valencia at 3am. Four buses were booked to ferry Erasmus exchange students. Three of the buses arrived safely, the fourth one didn't because it crashed close to its destination and the main speculation why it did is because the driver may have fallen asleep. If that is the case it would be understandable. So many times after the celebrations are all over everyone piles into the car or bus and they all fall asleep, leaving the driver to stay wide awake. This is always very dangerous.
I have no doubt that the drivers were all responsible and that they tried to get their rest. Where? No-one can sleep during Fallas with the noise level at its highest. For years residents of Valencia city leave during Fallas just to find peace and quiet. The problem with fatigue behind the wheel is that you only need to close your eyes once never to open them again.
Fourteen beautiful young women died in that crash that the driver survived. He was not being irresponsible or reckless. I'm certain that he was doing his best to get his precious cargo home safely. The ramifications of a tragedy like this is so widespread as to collapse the imagination. Of the fourteen who died, two were from Germany, one from Romania, one from Austria, one from France, eight from Italy, and one from Uzbekistan. That means family members from all of those countries had to scramble to get to Barcelona. In addition another 46 students were injured, plus the driver. In total twenty nationalities were on board the bus, so the impact has a very wide reach.
A tragedy is made so much worse when young people's lives are cut short and they don't get to realise their full potential.
At times life seems to be so unfair.
Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael
