Returning to his company he learned that local media reported the cause of the accident. According to their reports two Chiva buses were going from the Fort Howard area toward Panama City. The bridge had two lanes going in either direction. The two lanes narrowed to one as they left the bridge. The bus drivers were in competition to see which one got to the single lane first. One bus forced the other off the pavement and into a guardrail. The guardrail broke and the bus plunged sixty feet to the ground below, near the busy waters of the canal. Most of the people on the bus were women on their way to work.

Mitch, still unable to fully grasp what he'd responded to, walked up the stairs to his bunk, his eyes seeing a line of bodies instead of the stairs at his feet. Undressing he threw his uniform in a heap beside his bed and sat down, staring at the floor. He stayed in that hunched over position for forty-five minutes before lying down. He lie on his back, his eyes staring well past the physical roof above. At some point he went to sleep, only to awaken when a lifeless arm brushed his shoulder.