48 killed as bus careens off cliff in Peru

World Wednesday 03/January/2018 15:33 PM
By: Times News Service
48 killed as bus careens off cliff in Peru

Lima: At least 48 people were killed in Peru on Tuesday when a bus collided with a truck and careened off a cliff along a sharply curving highway north of the capital, Lima, the country's health ministry said.
The accident took place on the Panamericana Norte highway near the area of Pasamayo on the Pacific coast, the ministry said on Twitter. Six people survived the crash and were being treated for injuries while the government rushed emergency medical services to the site.
The new death toll of 48 was updated from 36 people, according to Lewis Mejia Prada, a representative of the local fire-fighting company, and police late Tuesday.
Six people survived the crash and were being treated for injuries, and the government rushed emergency medical services to the site.
"From the first moment I arranged all immediate support for the rescue of the victims in this emergency," President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski tweeted.
Road accidents are common in Peru because of unsafe highways. Police are investigating Tuesday's accident.
"It's a dangerous curve zone," Colonel Dino Escudero, head of Lima's highway control division, told local radio station RPP.