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A charitable campaign in Chile is receiving the response of donors in this country, including members of the Basque Diaspora, in response to the blood necessities of Basque students, Irati I.L. and Aitana M.K. who were severely injured when the bus they were traveling in wrecked.  The accident resulted in two people being injured and two fatalities.  Article by Teresa Flaño today in El Diario Vasco. 

Teresa Flaño.  Most often, tragedies result in charitable acts, to one extent or another, to comfort those affected and especially when they are far from home.  Irati and Aitana are two students from the Donostia campus of Deusto University who were participating in a mobility program in Chile.  On December 10^th, the bus they were traveling in had an accident on a highway between Santiago and Viña del Mar.  They were severely injured, along with another 20 people and there were also two fatalities. 

Over the last two weeks, there has been a campaign on social media that has had a big impact, fundamentally to find blood donors for the transfusions that are necessary, especially in the case of Aitana, who remains hospitalized in the Gustavo Fricke Hospital in Viña del Mar. Irati was transported on Wednesday to the Hospital Mutual de Seguridad in Santiago. 

Carolina Avila is in charge in the institutional area of the Delegation of Euskadi in Chile, Peru and Colombia, and was one of the first to have arrived at the hospital where the two were moved, along with directors of the Alberto Hurtado University where they study and the Basque club in Viña del Mar.

The two students from Deusto University were injured in a bus accident near Viña del Mar

43 people, several of them of the Basque Diaspora, have already answered the call to donate blood

Last Monday, “We did a call through various social networks asking people to come donate blood.”  The Basque clubs joined in spreading the word and as of yesterday morning, afternoon in European continental time, 43 people, several of who are Basques residing or studying in Chile on exchange programs, had already responded.  Other university students also responded.

These donations have covered Irati’s needs.  “The truth is that the movement through Twitter and Facebook was impressive, it really spread,” Avila said, in thanking everyone who responded and who inquired about the two who were studying at the College of Social and Human Sciences at the Social Work University and asking how they could help.

Aitana, is in a public hospital and she still needs the help of new donors, “we are also carrying out an intense campaign on all networks.”  Although she is in Viña del Mar, Carolina Avila explains that the donations can be made in Santiago because afterwards they will be sent to Gustavo Fricke.  She is optimistic “Between today and yesterday we are hoping to gather all the blood necessary.”

The two girls were severely injured, although they are making progress and are stable.  Irati has severe lesions on her arm, and may still require an operation.  In regards to Aitana, her leg was the most damaged and after receiving blood, the hope is to move her to Santiago so that the two friends can recuperate together.

The Basque Delegation in Chile has also offered support to the girls’ families.  Their parents arrived the day after the accident and have been helped to carry out all the procedures as well as finding a place for them to stay for as long as needed.

Gorka Alvarez, Director of the Basque Community Abroad explained, “When we find out about these kinds of circumstances we make all of our resources available to help those affected, in that country.  Suffering an accident is hard, and is even more complicated when you are in an unfamiliar country far away from home.”

The accident took place on December 10 when a truck and the Palmira passenger bus collided resulting in the bus overturning.

 (Published today in El Diario Vasco)