At least 25 people were killed Tuesday after a bus skid off a highway in Peru’s Andean Ayacucho region and fell around 650 feet, an official told a state news agency, Reuters reported.
17 people were injured in the incident, the outlet reported.
At least 25 people were killed and 17 injured in Peru on Tuesday after a bus crashed while traveling through a mountainous area, according to Ayacucho’s regional health department. https://t.co/9o48Xg8zTK
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 17, 2024
Jhonny Rolando Valderrama, the head of the highway protection division, said rescue work was ongoing, Reuters reported. A top police officer said there were 42 passengers aboard the bus when the incident happened, the outlet reported. The bus belonged to Turismo Molina Union SAC, a local company, according to Superintendencia de Transporte Terrestre de Personas, Carga y Mercancías (SUTRAN), a Peruvian governmental agency dedicated toward supervising land transportation, Reuters reported. (RELATED: Recently Released From Prison Former Foreign President Eyes Another Presidential Run: REPORT)
The Andes mountain range stretches over 4,000 miles long from Columbia in the north to Argentina in the south, the organization Amigos International observed. Mount Aconcagua is the highest point in the Andes range, standing at 22,831 feet tall, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. The mountain is also the highest peak in all of the Americas.
Fatal bus accidents are not unheard of in Peru. 25 people perished in April when a bus crashed into a river and in September 24 people were killed in a similar accident in the country, Reuters reported. Such bus accidents typically stem from buses traveling along precarious mountain side roads or poorly trained drivers, the outlet reported.
