At least 34 dead in bus crash in Bolivia

At least 34 people died on Monday in a traffic accident in the department of Chuquisaca, in southern Bolivia, after a bus rolled down a 150-meter ravine.

The National Director of Transit, Juan Carlos Espinoza, indicated that the first investigations indicate that the accident could be due to human error.

For his part, the regional director of this institution, José Luis Assaf, indicated that “after nine hours of work” 31 bodies were rescued and that they continue to work to recover three others while 10 people were transferred to be treated in hospitals.

“We are going to exhaust all the mechanisms to establish what was the cause of this accident and that the person responsible is punished”, Assaf assured according to ‘La Razón’.

The accident happened at 6:45 am (local time), in a bus that left the municipality of Potolo and was bound for Sucre, reports local television Unitel.

Death toll from passenger bus falling off cliff in southeast Bolivia rose to 34, local authorities reported on Monday, in the worst road tragedy the country has seen so far this year.

“From the data we have from the police [de rescate] who worked on the spot, there are 34 dead and 10 injured “said Colonel Juan Luis Cuevas, deputy police chief.

In principle, 18 deaths had been announced in this accident on a road in the department of Chuquisaca, a figure which rose to 24 and finally closed at 34, after nearly 12 hours of rescue missions. The list of injured has also undergone variations.

Videos circulating on social networks showed a dozen dead on the dirt road.

In these images, the bus is completely destroyed at the foot of the cliff, while firefighters and other rescuers are working on the scene.

Cuevas said initial investigations establish that the bus attempted to give way at a crossing to another car traveling in the opposite direction.

“Obviously he did not calculate the width of the road, the platform gave way and fell 150 meters deep”he explained.

Chuquisaca traffic police chief Colonel José Luis Asaff reported earlier from the scene of the accident “a heartbreaking panorama”, with the presence of relatives of the victims to recognize the bodies.

The Sucre public hospital has also become a point of influx of people who have learned of the plight of family and friends.

The bus carried passengers to the town of Sucre, capital of the department of Chuquisaca, from the rural commune of Potolo, located 50 km to the west.

Police said they would continue to investigate the reasons for the crash, this year’s biggest road tragedy in Bolivia, after a bus fell on a cliff on the road between Santa Cruz and Cochabamba on March 3, killing 21 people.

(With information from Europa Press and AFP)

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