At least 17 dead and 16 injured in accident in Peru – News

The accident, which occurred at dawn at kilometer 35 of the highway between Nasca and Puquio, in the mountains of the Ayacucho region, some 450 km southeast of Lima, is the second in an Andean road with many fatalities in the last 10 days. in Peru.

“We regret the death of 27 of our colleagues after the bus transporting them to Arequipa fell into a ravine” of the Pallancata mine, a major silver deposit, Compañía Minera Ares said in a statement.

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The company said the bus left the mine with 43 workers for Arequipa, a journey of around 500 kilometers that takes more than 10 hours due to the steep roads in the Andean highlands.

The bus fell into a 400-meter chasm and the bodies of the victims were strewn on the slopes of a hill in the desert area, the agency said. AFP.

Firefighters and police attended the scene of the accident, and the injured “were transferred to Nasca hospital for emergency treatment,” the Andina state agency said, adding that 16 wounded remained in the hospital.

Minera Ares belongs to the Hochschild group, founded in 1911 in Chile, which in the following decades spread to other Latin American countries and since 2006 has been listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Accidents on Peruvian roads are frequent due to the speed, poor road conditions, lack of signage and poor control by the authorities.

On Tuesday last week, 17 people died when a bus fell into an abyss on an Andean road in the La Libertad region, 500 km north of Lima.

According to the Ministry of Transport, between January and November 2020, 3,526 traffic accidents were recorded on Peruvian roads.