Bolivia: 20 people die after the fall of a pass …

At least 20 people died on Tuesday when a bus fell into a ravine on a route in the Bolivian region of Cochabamba, in the center of the country.

The episode occurred this morning at kilometer 72 of the road that goes to the eastern department of Santa Cruz for reasons that are still under investigation, according to the director of the Cochabamba Transit department, Helsner Torrico.

The vehicle concerned is a company bus Trans Carrasco who was traveling with about 45 passengers and fell into a ravine of about 150 meters. “As a result, we currently have 20 people dead and a still unquantified number injured,” Torrico said. The bus was heading for the town of Ivirgarzama, in the tropic of Cochabamba.

Among the dead is the driver of the vehicle, who died at Viedma Hospital in the city of Cochabamba, where some of the injured were also transferred.

Others are recovering at Colomi town hospital and a clinic in Sacaba municipality, both also in the Cochabamba area, Torrico said.

Police continue to work in the area and once the rescue of all the victims is complete, technical work will begin to verify the causes of the event, the officer added.

Traffic accidents on Bolivian roads cause around 1,400 deaths and 40,000 injuries each year, according to official data. A Bolivian police report warns that most of these events are due to preventable “human failures”.