At least 48 people have died in a serious bus accident in Peru.
Another six people were injured in the accident on the pacific coast north of the capital lima and were taken by helicopter to hospitals, local police chief hernan valdivieso told radio station RPP on tuesday evening (local time).
A truck hit the bus on a rural road in the province of huaral, causing it to leave the roadway, dino escudero of the traffic police told the official news agency andina. The bus then plunged almost 100 meters down the steep slope and came to rest on the beach.
President pedro pablo kuczynski offered his condolences to the families of the victims. "This serious accident is very painful for the country," wrote the head of state on twitter. "My deep solidarity goes out to the relatives"."
The coach was on its way from huacho to lima with about 55 passengers on board. According to transport minister bruno giuffra, excessive speed could have caused the accident. This was indicated by initial investigation results after the evaluation of the GPS devices of both vehicles, he wrote on twitter. The prosecutor's office opened an investigation. By late tuesday evening, 24 bodies had been recovered, the prosecutor's office wrote on twitter. A crane had been requested to facilitate the salvage work. Work was scheduled to resume wednesday morning (local time).
The country road is considered dangerous. On 22 kilometers there are 52 curves. Fog often makes visibility difficult and the road is not always secured with crash barriers. The accident occurred on a particularly dangerous section of the highway called the devil's bend.
Serious bus accidents occur again and again in peru. At the end of october, four german students were also killed in an accident in Peru.