Swedish Couple Cycling Around the World Hit by Car in Brazil; One Killed

09/17/2015 - 09h55

A Swedish couple who were travelling around the world by bicycle were hit by a car on Tuesday morning (15) on the BR-317 in Epitaciolândia (141 miles from Rio Branco, capital of Acre state). One of the cyclists later died in hospital.

They were cycling on the road at around 10:30am when they were hit by a car. Both were taken with serious injuries to hospital in the neighboring city of Brasileia.

Johanna Charlotte Eklöf, 26, died from her wounds. Karl Emil Andreas Börner, 25, was transferred to the Emergency Hospital in Rio Branco.

The driver, the trader José Ribamar Mendes Jr., 33, who was with his wife, remained at the scene at the accident and tried to help the couple, according to the Military Police. He went to the town police station to make a statement and was then released.

According to the Epitaciolândia police chief, Mardilson Vitorino de Siquiera, Mendes Jr. was not drunk, though he was driving at 100km/h, 20km/h above the speed limit. He will be charged with manslaughter, according to the Civil Police.

The couple's journey began in January, in Ushuaia, in the far south of Argentina. They went north through Chile, crossed Bolivia and Peru and had just entered Brazil.

The road where the accident occurred, the Interoceanic Highway, is in poor condition.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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	Reprodução/Facebook/Thebigtripse
	Karl Emil Andreas Börner and Johanna Charlotte Eklöf were travelling around the world by bicycle