PERU: 36 Injured, 14 Dead in Bus Crash

Fourteen people died and 36 were injured when a passenger bus went off the road and down a mountainside in southern Peru, the highway police reported on the weekend.

The accident occurred on Saturday night at Kilometer 860 on the Panamericana Sur highway when the driver of an interprovincial bus owned by the Lucerito transport company lost control, evidently in heavy fog, and the bus plunged down the side of a chasm some 180 meters (585 feet) deep.

Some of the injured were taken to the hospital in Camana and the most seriously hurt were sent to another health facility in the city of Arequipa, the regional capital, local media reported.

Police and personnel from the Public Ministry went to the crash site to help rescue the injured and begin removal of the dead.

The Arequipa region, where Camana is located, has been experiencing torrential rains over the past few days which have caused serious damage to local infrastructure and roads in this important area of southern Peru.

Published in Latino Daily News