At least 16 dead, two injured by bus that fell off cliff in Peru

At least 16 people died and two more were injured on Friday after a bus fell off a cliff in the Andes of Peru, local media reported.

The incident occurred around 1:00 p.m. local time when A vehicle carrying workers from the Chinese mining company MMG Las Bambas overturned near the community of Huallpachaca., in the province of Cotabambas, on the border of the Andean regions of Apurímac and Cusco.

According to the first versions of the accident, the bus, which was heading for the city of Cusco, fell into an abyss of about 200 meters, which caused the death of 16 passengers, including the driver of the vehicle.

Two other people were injured and taken to health centers of Cotabambas and hospitals in the Cusco region.

to the stage Police officers, ambulances and even a helicopter arrived to carry out rescue operations.

By a declaration, The Las Bambas company expressed its “deep sadness” for the death of its 16 employees, who, according to him, worked for subcontractors of the said mining company.

Accidents of this magnitude are common on Peru’s roads, caused mainly by recklessness of drivers, poor condition of roads and vehicle fleet, and difficult geographic conditions.

One year they die in Peru around 3,000 people were involved in road accidents, most of them are due to accidents, and some 55,000 are injured, according to figures from the National Road Safety Council.

During the month of June 27 miners died and 16 others were injured on Friday when the bus they were traveling in fell into an abyss on an Andean road in southern Peru near the famous Nasca lines, a mining company reported.

The accident happened at dawn in the kilometer 35 of the highway between Nasca and Puquio, in a mountainous area with a rugged geography belonging to the district of Leoncio Prado, in the southern Andean region of Ayacucho, about 450 km south-east of Lima. It’s him second accident on an Andean road with many deaths in the last ten days in the country.

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

The company said that The bus had 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.

(With information from EFE)

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