QUITO, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Nine Ecuadorians were killed in a fatal bus crash in the Panamanian province of Chiriqui earlier last month, said the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
The bus, carrying migrants to a shelter in the Panamanian province of Chiriqui, collided with a minibus and plunged into a ravine on Feb. 15, killing at least 39 people and injuring some 20 others.
"The Panamanian Prosecutor's Office released the list of fatalities, which includes nine Ecuadorians," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said it has begun to contact the victims' families, as part of the process of repatriating the deceased.
There were 11 Ecuadorians injuried in the accident but in stable condition, it said.
As of November 2022, 227,987 migrants of 70 nationalities were recorded in transit through the Panamanian Darien Gap in their attempt to reach North America, according to data released in December last year by the International Organization for Migration. ■
