A truck that was carrying wheat flour, one of the products that has been scarce in the Island for months, turned when it was traveling on the roads of Las Tunas, spilling the precious cargo.
The incident, where no death was recorded, took place on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 30, on the Central Highway.
Images shared on social networks show that the truck, a ZIL 130 made by the Soviets, was completely overturned, and several bags of broken flour on the asphalt.
“Traffic has been restored on the highway near Jobabito in Las Tunas, after a spectacular accident involving a V8 truck from the Ministry of Agriculture, full of wheat flour,” said journalist Liberato Cimarrón.
According to the release, some witnesses said that the back tire on the driver’s side of the truck came off, causing it to lose control and eventually roll over.
The truck’s cab ended up completely crushed, however, the driver was not seriously injured.
Officers from the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) and members of the department’s authorities arrived at the site to control vehicle traffic and assess the damage.
At this time it is not known how many flowers were lost, or if any of the product spilled on the road could be recovered.
Vehicle accidents are nothing new to the Island, as the poor condition of the roads, as well as the lack of road maintenance and the lack of spare parts usually make these accidents one of the main causes of death in the country.
However, this disaster has a negative impact on the population in another way, because wheat flour is a scarce raw material in the Greater Antilles, where there are areas where only pumpkin bread can be guaranteed for children under 14. years.
According to the comments, some people took advantage of the misfortune to grab some of the spilled flour, which is usually seen in this type of accident and is a reminder of the there is a food shortage in Cuba.
“I live nearby, and people were carrying flowers in quantities,” said an Internet user identified as Brayan Ramírez.
This situation was recognized by Internet users, who said that the loss of flour was a painful thing for the country at this time, while the Island is going through one of the most economic crises worse than history.
“Thank God there are no victims, but we need the flour”; “What was the situation in that truck that broke down like that?”, and “Oh God, now Las Tunas will run out of bread,” were some of the comments.
