The Pan-American Highway in the Nasca desert, 400 kilometers south of Lima.Yuriko Nakao / Getty Images
At least 17 people have died and another 14 were injured this Friday after a bus fell off a cliff in the Andes mountain range, in Peru.
The accident occurred around 4:00 in the morning at kilometer 37 of the highway between the municipalities of Nazca and Puquio, in a mountainous sector with rugged geography belonging to the southern Andean region of Ayacucho, southeast of Lima. .
At least 17 bodies were found at the scene of the accident, according to the
EFE
agency
.
The interprovincial bus transported 50 workers from a mining company to the south of the country, to the city of Arequipa, as reported by the radio station Radio Programa del Perú.
According to the police report, 14 people were injured, some seriously.
These were transferred to the Hospital of the city of Nazca to receive emergency care.
#Communicado |
The Sutran reports the following in relation to the accident that occurred this morning in the Via Nasca-Puquio-Chalhuanca-Abancay (Vista Alegre district, Nasca province, Ica) and that it involves a bus from the Palomino International Express Transport Company pic.twitter .com / GCVSnMNwYo
- SUTRAN PERÚ (@sutranperu) June 18, 2021
According to the first versions of the accident, the vehicle was moving the group when it drifted off the road for reasons still undetermined.
The bus circled several times along a steep slope of more than 200 meters.
The Superintendency of Land Transport of Peré (SUTRAN) has activated the investigation protocols to determine the causes of the accident.
"It is important to indicate that the unit was carrying out a special service for the transfer of workers for a private company and had authorization for said service," SUTRAN has released in a statement.
More information
Peru's highways, among the most dangerous in Latin America
Peru is one of the countries with one of the highest death rates from traffic accidents in Latin America. The Andean country has an estimated rate of 15.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, above Mexico (14.7 and with a much higher fleet), and below Venezuela, with a rate of 37.2. However, the WHO points out that Peru is one of the 77 countries - and one of the five in Latin America along with Bolivia, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua - that do not have reliable figures on the causes of registered deaths. Each year in Peru around 3,000 people die in traffic accidents, most of them due to run over, and some 55,000 are injured, according to figures from the National Road Safety Council.
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