Yesterday a bus travelling with 48 passengers from Cartago to San José lost its brakes on the downhill section near Tres Rios and crashed.  39 people were injured in the crash, which took place on a side road as the driver had exited the freeway in an attempt to get the bus to slow down on its own friction.  Fortunately, when the bus left the road it landed in soft earth and did not roll over completely. 

The bus company SACSA was under investigation for multiple complaints by users over bad treatment by the drivers, non-compliance with schedules and poor condition of the buses. Although the bus did pass the technical inspection this year, it was on the second attempt due to grave faults in the axles, suspension, steering and brakes.  In 8 of 9 inspections performed there was a persistent flaw in the equality of force among the brakes.  In 7 of  9 inspections, the brake pressure guage did not function properly.  Which would not permit the driver to know whether or not the brakes were working properly on any particular run.

Authorities from multiple agencies will investigate the accident, results will be made public as they become available.