More than Dozens dead, bus falls off cliff near Lima Peruvian capital

OSBC
1 September 2021

At least two children were among the 32 killed, and 20 others were injured in the accident east of Lima.

At least 32 passengers have died, including two children, and more than 20 were injured when a bus crashes off from a cliff in Peru, officials said, in the country’s third multiple-victim transport accident in four days.

The accident happened on Tuesday on a narrow stretch of the Carretera Central road some 60 km (37 miles) east of the capital Lima. The road connects Lima to much of the central Andes.

“Unfortunately, at the moment, there are 32 dead,” said police commander Cesar Cervantes. A six-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl were among the dead, police said.

Cervantes said “recklessness” contributed to Tuesday’s accident, adding that the bus had been travelling “at high speed”. According to survivor accounts, it hit a rock and sunk into an abyss some 200 metres (650 feet) deep.

On Sunday, 22 people died when two boats collided on the Amazon river in Peru. An undetermined number remain missing. Two days earlier, another bus fell into a ravine in the country’s southeast, killing 17 people.

Road accidents are common in the Andean country due to speeding motorists, poorly maintained highways, a lack of road signs and poor traffic safety enforcement.