PORT-AU-PRINCE – Nine people are missing and 20 others survived when a truck was swept away by the Glace River earlier this week in Duchity, a town in the southwestern Haitian department of Grand Anse, the central government’s representative in the region, Norma Wiener, said.

Initial media reports said dozens of people died in Monday’s accident, prompting the emergency management office to hold a press conference to provide casualty figures.

The truck was carrying 29 people – 28 passengers and the driver – when the accident occurred, Wiener said.

The vehicle was heading from Port-au-Prince to Bomond, a city in southwestern Haiti, Wiener said during the press conference on Wednesday.

The accident was caused by the driver’s decision to try to cross the river, whose waters had risen, the official said.

The unidentified driver, who is under arrest, entered the river despite warnings from passengers, Wiener said.

Emergency management personnel have not recovered any bodies yet, but teams are searching the area, Wiener said.

President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe have sent their condolences to the victims’ families. EFE