LIMA, June 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 27 people were killed and several injured on Friday after an interprovincial bus overturned in the southern Peruvian region of Ayacucho, according to preliminary information provided by the police to local media.
The bus fell into a 250-meter ravine at about 3:00 a.m. local time while traveling on the Interoceanic Highway from the Ayacucho region to Arequipa.
According to initial reports from the scene of the accident, located 600 km southeast of the capital Lima, the Wari Palomino company bus was carrying a group of miners and their families.
Rescue teams, firefighters and police officers arrived at the site to rescue the injured, who were taken to the nearby hospital in Nasca.
The Peruvian Police is gathering information to determine the causes of the accident.
The death of the miners has been announced by their employer, the British Hochschild Mining. “We are deeply shocked by this news and will thoroughly investigate the accident,” the company’s CEO said in a statement.
An investigation is underway as to what caused the accident. The Public Prosecution Service says it assumes that the bus driver has fallen asleep.
Major accidents regularly occur in Peru, partly as a result of the lack of maintenance on the roads. North of the capital Lima, 17 people were killed last week when a bus crashed into a ravine. — NNN-AGENCIES
