A cargo vehicle that lost its brakes triggered a chain-reaction collision involving at least 14 vehicles on the Pan-American Highway, near the El Ángel roundabout, in Apopa. The accident, which occurred Wednesday morning, preliminarily left two people dead and caused fires in several vehicles. Among the fatal victims is a judge of Penitentiary Surveillance and Sentence Enforcement from Chalatenango. The second deceased was the driver of a vehicle rescued with hydraulic equipment, whose identity was not immediately confirmed. The Chalatenango judge identified as María Elisa Hernández PortilloThe deceased magistrate was identified as María Elisa Hernández Portillo, according to El Mundo, a Salvadoran newspaper. The official was traveling in one of the cars hit by the runaway dump truck. The newspaper specified that the deceased man was driving a sedan and died while being transported to a medical center, according to the account of a rescuer. A dump truck traveling from west to east on the Pan-American Highway lost its brakes and collided with a line of vehicles stopped by rush-hour traffic. The impact set off a chain of crashes with another dump truck, a truck, and several sedans, and caused fires that were attended to by the Fire Department. Security camera videos from the area show the dump truck passing at high speed before first colliding with a white sedan, then with another dump truck and a truck, and finally with the rest of the vehicles. The road has a steep incline in that stretch, a factor that authorities preliminarily link to the mechanical failure of the cargo vehicle. The National Civil Police confirmed that the driver of the dump truck that caused the accident was injured and remains under police custody in a hospital, according to the same newspaper. Corporal Delmy Erazo, of the Fire Department, told the outlet that, upon arriving at the scene, the wrecked vehicles had already begun to catch fire and the crews worked to extinguish the flames before continuing with the rescue of the trapped people. Luis Laínez, spokesman for Comandos de Salvamento, confirmed the death of a person whose identity was unknown at the initial moment of the report. Laínez also specified that five other people were transported to medical centers while the rescue of one more was being completed. Rescue institutions and security forces attend to a traffic accident recorded on a road in El Salvador. The scene shows multiple damaged vehicles, including a cargo truck and a burned-out car. Members of the National Civil Police, the Fire Department, and Comandos de Salvamento carry out rescue and firefighting work in the affected area. The Ministry of Transport reported the restriction of vehicular traffic in the area while the emergency operation was underway, according to the newspaper. The Salvadoran Red Cross counted at least 15 vehicles involved and deployed two ambulances along with hydraulic equipment to attend to the trapped people. The Salvadoran Green Cross counted seven people injured among the occupants of the 14 affected vehicles, a figure that the emergency medical institution updated as care at the scene progressed, eventually reaching thirteen. Members of the Salvadoran Green Cross and Civil Protection work on rescue efforts after a vehicle collided with a cargo truck. (Rescue Corps El Salvador)The Press Secretariat of the Presidency reported that one of the injured people was transported to the Zacamil national hospital. Members of the Salvadoran Green Cross and Civil Protection work on rescue efforts after a vehicle collided with a cargo truck. (Rescue Corps El Salvador)After 12:30, official government accounts on social media announced that vehicular traffic on Constitución Boulevard had been reopened, after several hours of work by rescue crews in the area. Authorities had not specified, as of the close of the reports, whether there will be additional criminal liability arising from the mechanical failure that caused the collision.