At least 25 dead in Peru as bus plunges 600 feet into the Andes

At least 25 people were killed and 17 injured in Peru on Tuesday after a bus crashed while traveling through a mountainous area.

At least 25 people were killed and 17 injured in Peru on Tuesday after a bus crashed while traveling through a mountainous area, according to Ayacucho’s regional health department.

The bus skidded off a highway in Peru’s Andean Ayacucho region at dawn, overturning and plummeting down a slope of about 650 feet, Jhonny Rolando Valderrama, head of the highway protection division, told state news agency Andina.

Valderrama said the accident occurred on the Los Libertadores highway in Ayacucho in the south-central Andes and that rescue work was ongoing.

By early afternoon, a top police officer said early information indicated there were 42 passengers in the bus.

Relatives of victims of a bus that plunged down a ravine ask for their loved ones outside the Mariscal Hospital in Ayacucho, Peru, on July 16, 2024. Cinthya Carbajal / AFP - Getty ImagesPeru’s ground transportation superintendent SUTRAN said in a statement the bus belongs to local company Turismo Molina Union SAC and that it has initiated an investigation.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/least-25-dead-peru-bus-plunges-600-feet-andes-crash-rcna162256

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