Catalan aid worker dies in car accident in Malawi

Anna S. C., a 22-year-old Catalan aid worker from Lleida, has died following a car accident in Malawi.

She was accompanied by a friend and colleague from the university, who was severely injured and urgently needs to be transferred to South Africa for medical attention. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the required medical resources are not available.

Speaking to the Catalan News Agency (ACN), sources of Anna's family urged for a prompt transfer of the colleague so she can get treatment.

"Anna is no longer with us, but we do not want that due to paperwork issues, her friend cannot be medically treated," Anna's cousin told ACN.

"They went there to help, now they are the ones asking for help," Anna's family says.

Sources told ACN that the injured colleague urgently needs a medicalized airplane.

Both, Anna and her colleague, studied law in the university, despite her friend not being from Lleida, and Anna currently studying in Toulouse, France. According to the family, the two volunteers are passionate for helping others, and in fact, Anna had already volunteered in the past. Last year, she had traveled to Nepal.

"She was a brilliant young woman, she mixes law with psychology, and she always wanted to help everyone, her friends, and the rest of the world," her family says.

The two Catalans had landed in Malawi and were traveling to their destination with a car, when they suffered an accident. Anna and the NGO's guide passed away. Anna's friend and the van's driver are injured.

Catalan president Salvador Illa has sent his condolences to the young woman's family and friends, and has made himself available to the family for anything they may need.

During a speech to media outlets from Hefei, in China, during an official trip, Illa said that he got in touch with Spain's foreign affair minister, José Manuel Albares, and urged him to set in motion all required tools to repatriate Anna and to offer medical attention to her friend.

"These things are always sad, but it is sadder when the injured people are people who had traveled just to cooperate and travel with a spirit of generosity and to teach the best of Catalans to countries that do not have the prosperity nor conditions of ours," Illa said.

(A previous version of this story reported that the aid worker was 23 years old. The source confirmed she would have turned 23 in 2025, but was 22 years old at the moment of the tragic events)