LA PAZ, March 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two passenger buses collided Saturday on a highway in southern Bolivia, leaving at least 37 dead, including two children, police said.
“So far we have 37 confirmed deaths and more than 30 people injured,” Colonel Wilson Flores said about the crash near the city of Uyuni in the department of Potosi.
The accident occurred in the early morning hours on the route between Uyuni and Colchani, when one of the buses swerved into the oncoming lane, resulting in one of the country’s deadliest road accidents in recent years.
“As a result of this fatal accident, we have 39 people injured in four hospitals in the town of Uyuni, and 37 people have lost their lives,” a spokesman for the Departmental Police Command of Potosí told reporters.
One of the buses was heading to the city of Oruro, the scene this weekend of the Oruro Carnival, one of the largest festivals in Latin America. It attracts tens of thousands of people.
At the crash site, a crane overturned one of the buses, which had landed on its side. Police officers were seen removing bodies from the wreckage, carrying them away wrapped in blankets.
A preliminary investigation suggests that speeding may have been a factor, with one of the buses veering into the opposite lane, according to a statement from the Bolivian Ministry of Government.
Authorities are now working to identify the victims and provide support to the injured. — NNN-AGENCIES
