The acting mayor of Calasparra, José Vélez, and fellow councillors Cristina Trujillo, Jordi Arce, Antonio Moreno and María Dolores Gomariz, the local police chief, Miguel Moret, and the Head of Municipal Services, Cristina Trujillo, Jordi Arce, Antonio Moreno and María Dolores Gomariz, attended the funerals yesterday in Bullas of the 14 residents killed in the bus crash on Saturday night.
The fatal accident at the Venta del Olivo has deeply affected Calasparra, partly because Bullas is a close neighbour and partly because the the bus belonged to the Calasparrian company, José Ruiz Autocares.
“How many times have we travelled in that same bus,” lamented a resident of Calasparra.
José Ruiz, owner of the transport firm, who is at the point of retiring, says the bus in question (2672 BKZ) was “emblematic” of the company, J. Ruiz. He says the bus was in good working order and had just passed its ITV (MOT).
Among the dead is the priest, Miguel Conesa, 36 years, who was deacon of Calasparra from 2003 to 2004 with the parish priest, Fernando Gutiérrez Reche.
Some 17 victims of the accident remain in hospital of which 11 are recovering well but six remain in a “grave”condition.
