Lima: A bus plunged over a seaside cliff in Peru,
killing at least 48 people after a collision with a truck on a
precarious stretch known as the ‘devil’s curve’, officials said.
The bus was travelling from Huacho, 130 kilometres north of the capital, to Lima with 55 passengers and two crew on board when it went off the road about midday.
It plunged 100 metres and landed upside down on rocks at the edge of the sea.
The incident “left at least 48 victims” dead, the statement posted on
the Interior Ministry’s website said, revising an earlier toll of 36.
Efforts to recover bodies from the overturned vehicle were suspended at
nightfall because the tide had risen and reached the bus, the police
said.
A police helicopter had winched some rescue workers to the wreck of the blue bus while others made the precarious journey down on foot with the assistance of ropes.
The navy sent a patrol boat to assist the rescuers trying to get everyone out before the tide came in.
There were several survivors, although most on board the bus perished.
Maria Elena Aguilar, director of Alcides Carrion Hospital in El Callao,
said her facility received five patients with multiple injuries.
One other survivor was taken to a different hospital.
The accident took place on a coastal highway about 45 kilometers north
of the capital Lima, said Colonel Dino Escudero, head of the police
highway patrol division.
The Pasamayo highway on which the tragedy occurred is only used by trucks and buses, as cars travel a different route.
