Twenty-nine dead and 20 injured after bus plunges off cliff in Peru
- A search and rescue effort was under way for possible survivors and to recover bodies, the police department said
- Police said a child was among the dead and that ‘recklessness’ contributed to the accident that happened on a narrow road near the capital Lima
Twenty-nine passengers died, including a child, and more than 20 were injured when a bus plummeted from a cliff in Peru early on Tuesday, officials said, in the country’s third multiple-victim transport accident in four days.
The accident happened on a narrow stretch of the Carretera Central road some 60km (37 miles) east of the capital Lima.
Police commander Cesar Cervantes told TV Peru there was a child among the dead and two among the injured. There had been 63 passengers on the bus, and local official Freddy Laorte said 29 of them had perished.
A search and rescue effort was under way for possible survivors and to recover bodies, the police department added on Twitter.
Cervantes said “recklessness” contributed to Tuesday’s accident, adding that the bus had been travelling “at high speed”.
It hit a rock and plunged into an abyss some 200m (650 feet) deep, according to survivor accounts.
