“There is nothing we can do here. I know it sucks, but there is nothing we can do,” said Chris Welch, a paramedic traveling with a group of CHOICE Humanitarian volunteers in a remote area of Guatemala, as we peered down the steep embankment where minutes earlier a large truck with eight people aboard went over the edge.
Three passengers and the driver escaped unharmed. Three had to be taken by ambulance for emergency care for head wounds, broken bones and other injuries. One, crushed by the truck, died at the scene. The steep hillside dropped about 500 to 1000 feet. The truck itself was out of site, presumably at the bottom. The passengers and driver had all leapt or been thrown from the truck as it began an apparent sideways role down the virtual cliff.
Chris’s trained reaction wasn’t far wrong. There was nothing to do for the crushed victim and we could only-render first aid to the others as we waited with them for an ambulance. When one showed up about fifteen minutes after our arriv…