At least 37 people have died and 13 others were injured after a passenger bus fell into a deep ravine in southern Peru early on Wednesday following a collision with another vehicle.
Walther Oporto, the health manager for the Arequipa region, told local radio RPP that the bus collided with a pickup truck before veering off a curved road.
It then plummeted more than 200 metres (650 feet) down to the banks of the Ocona river.
The vehicle had been travelling from Chala, a mining city also located in southern Peru, en route to Arequipa.
Fatal bus accidents are not uncommon in Peru.
The cause of Wednesday’s accident was not clear, but authorities have said in the past that reckless driving and excessive speed are behind many of these events.
In August, a bus overturned on a highway and 10 people died.
In July, another bus traveling from Lima to Peru’s Amazon region also overturned, leaving at least 18 people dead and 48 injured.
In January at least six people died and 32 were injured when a bus fell into a river.
In 2024 there were approximately 3,173 deaths as a result of traffic accidents in the South American country, according to official data from the Death Information System.
