(ANS – Macas) – Two women, Doctor Betty Rodríguez, Coordinator of the Hospital at Taisha, and Cristine Gruber, an Austrian Salesian Volunteer who is a nurse, were killed yesterday afternoon, 13 June, in an accident involving the plane in which they were travelling from Taisha to Macas.

As a young woman, Doctor Rodriguez had worked as a volunteer in the Salesian community at Wasakentsa.  As a result of this experience, she decided, when she got her degree in medicine, to work with the Salesians of the Amazon region, helping the most needy.
 
Cristine Gruber, born in 1959, had been serving since 1 May of this year as a volunteer in the medical department of the Salesian Community at Taisha. She intended to stay there for six months working as a nurse, after which time she was due to go to the Salesian community at Cayambe.
 
A psychologist who was Director of Health in Morona-Santiago and the pilot of the aircraft were also killed in the incident.
 
Published 14/06/2013