Peru: at least 29 dead in the fall of a bus from the cliff | The bus was heading to Lima

At least 29 passengers died, including a child, and 20 others were injured after a bus fell off a cliff who was going to Lima in the early hours of Tuesday.

“29 bodies have been found so far, we are awaiting the arrival of a crane” to move the bus, said Major Freddy Loarte, who directs the rescue and is the commissioner of San Mateo, a town close to the place. of the accident. Everything suggests that the number of victims will be higher.

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 central Peruvian Sierra, near Matucana, 60 km east of the capital.

The bus carried 63 passengers and had left Huánuco (300 km northeast of the capital) with Lima as the final destination.

“Unfortunately there was a six-year-old [entre los muertos] and there are two injured minors, ”said the general commander of the police, César Cervantes.

He said that “recklessness” was one of the causes of the accident, since the driver was “driving at high speed”. The bus He collided with a rock and fell into an abyss about 200 meters deep., towards the Rímac basin, depending on the version of some passengers.

Police and firefighters “continue to search for and rescue the injured and the bodies of the victims after the accident on the central highway this morning. Aid work will continue for the rest of the day,” also published police on Twitter.

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

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