A selfless mum has managed to save her two-year-old son from being killed in a minibus accident before being crushed to death herself by the overturning vehicle.
Angelica Mesquita, 36, was travelling in the minibus with her mother and six children.
The family members, who live in the city of Guarulhos in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, were travelling to the seaside town of Bertioga in the same state, a roughly two-hour drive away, to spend the day at the beach.
According to local media including news portal G1, the minibus, which made the journey on Sunday, 7th November, was operating clandestinely.
The accident took place at kilometre 86 on the SP-098 state highway between the city of Mogi das Cruzes and Bertioga at around 5.15 am.
The location where the accident took place is marked by dangerous curves in the road, and the minibus crashed when its driver allegedly tried to change to a lower gear but was unable to.
The vehicle reportedly crashed through the rail separating the opposing lanes and then overturned on the other side of the road.
Angelica had been sitting with her young son Nycollas in one of the back seats next to a window that had a small crack in it. When the minibus overturned, the two were thrown through the window, whose glass was shattered with the impact.
They fell onto the tarmac, and the vehicle was about to overturn again on top of them. However, according to the surviving passengers, Angelica threw her son out of the way and did not have time to then save herself before the minibus fell on top of her, crushing her.
Despite being saved by his mother’s heroics, little Nycollas suffered serious injuries including a broken foot and a partial scalping of his head.
He was taken to the Hospital de Bertioga with 33 other victims, but he had to be transferred to the Hospital Irma Dulce in the nearby city of Praia Grande, where he remains in a serious condition in the ICU.
Angelica’s mother and her five other children have since been discharged from hospital. However, according to the victim’s brother Evandro, the children saw their mum’s dead body in the accident and are now psychologically traumatised.
Evandro and other relatives are currently carrying out a fundraising campaign to bring Angelica’s body back home to Guarulhos and to fund little Nycollas’ ongoing treatment.
Evandro paid tribute to his sister on social media in a lengthy post he opened with the line: “Angelica was the woman who always said she would step in front of a bullet for her children, siblings and parents.”
As of Monday, 8th November, two people were still undergoing treatment at the Hospital de Bertioga. They were both in a stable condition.
The Civil Police (Brazil’s investigative police force) is investigating the case, which they have registered as manslaughter and wrongful bodily injury while driving a motor vehicle.
The company operating the minibus clandestinely has been named as Juli Wil Locadora Transporte e Turismo Ltda.
No other fatalities were reported in the accident.
