by Rod Hughes

A young mother was killed Sunday when the car in which she was riding was hit by a landslide in the Acosta area. Her toddler daughter and others in the car managed to escape. Acosta is in the mountains south of San Jose.

Noilin Arias, 20, had accompanied her daughter and husband on a shopping trip to the capital. Upon their return by bus, they attempted to hire a taxi to take them home, but the drivers refused due to the heavy rain that was falling. Soliciting a ride in an SUV driven by her neice’s boyfriend, the family headed home, only to find the road blocked by a landslide near Cangrejal.

Forced to return, the driver found that the rains had swollen a creek crossing the road. Again turning around, they retraced their route on to be hit by a landslide 500 meters farther on. The others in the car escaped but Noilin was injured and trapped in the destroyed vehicle. Although rescued by another motorist, they were isolated by the dozens of slides that blocked the road. There she died of her injuries.

Others were more fortunate in this area of steep mountains. A company seminar of 50 persons fled their resort meeting place just minutes before an avalanche of mud and stone slammed into it.