Video: Forty Four Dead After Bus Tumbles From Peru Mountain Road.
A double-decker bus veered off a mountain road and plunged into a ravine in southern Peru Wednesday, killing at least 44 people, AFP reports.
The bus tumbled 80 meters (260 feet) down a jagged slope from the Pan-American highway — Peru’s main motorway — in the southern region of Arequipa.
Arequipa police chief General Walter Ortiz “confirms 44 deaths,” the interior ministry said on its Twitter account, updating an earlier toll of 35.
Ortiz said 45 people were registered as passengers on the bus, but the ministry said this did not match the number of people killed or injured.
Photo: AFP/STRINGER
However, interprovincial buses in Peru frequently pick-up and drop-off passengers en route, resulting in discrepancies in the original passenger list.
Amid the confusion, the authorities did not specify the number of people injured. It was also not known if the driver was among them.
The accident happened in darkness around 1:30 am (0630 GMT). Rescue teams including firefighters and police “have been working since dawn, coordinating the transfer and care of the injured,” Arequipa governor Yamila Osorio wrote on her Twitter account.
It was the second major accident on Peru’s roads this year. On January 2, a bus crashed into a ravine in the country’s central coastal area, leaving 52 dead.
Click link below to watch video of the rescue operation:
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