At least 29 dead when bus falls off cliff in Peru

This is the third transport accident that has claimed many lives in Peru in the past four days.

The accident occurred on a narrow stretch of the central highway, which connects Lima to the Peruvian central Sierra, near Matucana, 60 kilometers east of the capital.

“We still have work to do, we have to remove the bus,” Major Loarte added, hinting that the death toll could rise.

The bus was carrying 63 passengers and left from Huánuco (300 kilometers northeast of the capital), with Lima as the final destination.

“Unfortunately, there was a six-year-old (among the dead) and there are two injured minors,” said Police Commander César Cervantes.

He said that “recklessness” was one of the causes of the accident, as the driver “was driving at high speed”.

The bus collided with a rock and fell into an abyss about 200 meters deep, towards the basin of the Rímac River, according to the version of some passengers.

Police and firefighters continued to search for and rescue the injured and the bodies of the victims. Rescue work will continue for the rest of the day, police also posted on Twitter.

Rescuers evacuated the wounded to hospitals in Matucana and Chosica, the nearest towns.

This Sunday 14 people died and an unknown number is still missing after the collision of two boats in a river in the Peruvian Amazon. And two days earlier, a bus fell into a ravine on an Andean road in the south-east of the country, in an accident in which 17 people died.

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