Two young men miraculously survived after the Mercedes A-Class they were in, crashed against the wall of a tunnel in Cali, Columbia, at extremely high speed and overturned. The accident caused by an underage driver happened during an illegal street race, a type of event that the Columbian authorities have failed to stop even though they have been trying for decades.
A video of the heart-stopping accident surfaced this weekend. The footage shows more than ten cars aligned for the start of a street race and then blasting through the Túnel Mundialista de la Avenida Colombia, in which the organizers might had stopped traffic. Defying all speed limits and local regulations in force, the racers make their way through the underground. Towards the end of the tunnel, the driver of a Mercedes A-Class loses control and crashes against the wall, overturning and producing flames. The fire shown in the video were just sparks, as the car luckily did not catch fire.
It was reported that the driver and his passenger walked out of the car and were admitted to hospital with no life threatening injuries. They were discharged the following morning and will now face various charges. The driver tested negative on drinking, but he is underage. The car was a gift for the right seat passenger on his 18th birthday. The police has identified the owners and drivers of four of the vehicles involved. There are approximately 30 surveillance cameras in the area.
Illegal street racing is a phenomenon that seems impossible to eradicate in Columbia. The day before the race, the Minister of Transportation of Cali had confirmed that the authorities were to tighten security on the city’s main streets and tighten up control on drivers’ behaviour, in order to avoid speeding and dangerous maneouvers, especially at night.
