Óscar Calixto Chamorro was stranded on the Central Highway in Jauja, Peru, repairing his broken-down vehicle.
His partner, Verónica Solano, and their 7-year-old son continued the trip to Huancayo in another car, driven by Josel Carvajal Ledesma, a 22-year-old man who offered to take them.
It was the last time Óscar knew they were alive. Minutes later, a semi-trailer truck and a pickup truck crashed into that car in the Yanachacra area and sent it off the road.
When Óscar arrived at the scene, still with his hands stained with grease, he found the Toyota Yaris destroyed.
Inside were his wife, his son, and the driver who was taking them, all three dead.
Five other people were injured in the crash.
Óscar shouted his son’s name amid the wreckage of the car, still unaware that the mechanical failure that made him stop that morning was the only thing that kept him alive.