At least 44 people died in Peru on Wednesday when a bus hurtled some 100 metres into a ravine in the mountainous south in the country’s second major bus crash this year, a local official said.

“According to a report from the Peruvian National Police, there are 44 confirmed deaths as of now,” Yamila Osorio, the governor of the Arequipa region, wrote on Twitter.

The bus was carrying some 45 passengers, according to operator Rey Latino, but police said the figure was likely higher because additional passengers boarded along the route and did not appear in the initial register.

The crash occurred on a curve on the Panamericana Sur highway in the Ocona district. Road accidents are common in Peru, where roads are considered unsafe and bus drivers lack training.

“My condolences to the relatives of the victims of the transit accident in Arequipa,” President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski wrote on Twitter. “We have taken all steps to provide immediate rescue support and transfer victims to the closest health centres so they can be attended immediately.”

At least 48 people died in early January when a bus collided with a truck and careened off a cliff near the area of Pasamayo on the Pacific coast. </s> At least 30 people died after a bus plunged off the Pan-American Highway in Peru on Wednesday, BBC reported.

The incident took place at 1.30 am local time (12 noon Indian time) near the Ocaño bridge in Arequipa province.

The coach fell from a height that reports estimated differently between 80 metres and 200 metres. It was taking passengers from the town of Chala to the city of Arequipa.

Local civil defence official Jacqueline Choque said “17 or 18 people” were rescued and taken to a hospital. The cause of the accident is not known yet.

This comes just over a month after 48 people died when a bus collided with a truck on a highway north of the Peruvian capital city of Lima and fell off a cliff. </s> Lima: At least 44 people were killed and 24 others injured when a bus skidded off the road and plunged into a river in Peru’s Arequipa region, authorities said.

Seven of the injured are in serious condition, including three children, reports Efe news agency.

The accident occurred on Wednesday on the Pan-American Highway.

The authorities were still trying to determine what caused the bus to skid off the road and plunge 200 metres into the Ocona River.

The bus was travelling from Chala to Arequipa city, and was running on an expired operating permit, the transportation ministry said.

“My condolences to the families of the victims of the transit accident in Arequipa,” President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski tweeted. </s> The number of confirmed deaths from Wednesday's bus accident in the southern region of Arequipa has reached 44, while 24 injured passengers have been taken to hospitals, Peru's Indeci civil defense agency said.

Seven of the injured are in serious condition, including three young children.

The accident occurred around 12:30 am on the Pan-American Highway inside the limits of the town of Ocoña.

Authorities are still trying to determine what caused the bus to run off the road and plunge 200 meters (655 ft) to the bottom of a ravine along the banks of the Ocoña River.

The bus was traveling from Chala to Arequipa city, the regional capital, and was running on an expired operating permit, the transportation ministry said.

"My condolences to the families of the victims of the transit accident in Arequipa," President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said on Twitter. </s> LIMA – At least seven people died and more than 50 sustained injuries on Saturday when a bus fell into a ravine in the central Peruvian region of Huanuco, according to Peru’s National Emergency Operations Center.

Rescue teams formed of police and firefighters arrived at the site of the accident and helped evacuate those injured to hospitals around Huanuco.

The bus was estimated to be carrying more than 60 people including the driver and co-driver.

It left the city of Pucallpa, in the eastern region of Ucayali, and destined for Tingo Maria, around 155 miles west.

Police said that for unknown reasons, the coach plunged into a ravine 150 meters deep while traveling along the Federico Basadre highway.

More than 100 people have been killed in three major bus accidents in the South American country. </s> A double-decker bus veered off a mountain road and plunged into a ravine in southern Peru Wednesday, killing at least 44 people.

The bus tumbled 260 feet down a jagged slope from the Pan-American highway - Peru's main motorway.

Arequipa police chief General Walter Ortiz 'confirms 44 deaths,' the interior ministry said on its Twitter account, updating an earlier toll of 35.

Ortiz said 45 people were registered as passengers on the bus, but the ministry said this did not match the number of people killed or injured.

The bus operated by the Rey Latino line ran off the road near the mouth of the Ocona River on Peru's southern Pacific coast.

However, interprovincial buses in Peru frequently pick-up and drop-off passengers en route, resulting in discrepancies in the original passenger list.

Amid the confusion, the authorities did not specify the number of people injured. It was also not known if the driver was among them.

The accident happened in darkness around 1:30 am.

Rescue teams including firefighters and police 'have been working since dawn, coordinating the transfer and care of the injured,' Arequipa governor Yamila Osorio wrote on her Twitter account.

'The on-duty prosecutor is carrying out the removal of the corpses and experts from the police traffic accident investigation section are investigating the causes of the accident,' traffic police chief Colonel Jorge Castillo said.

The injured were taken to hospital in the city of Camana, some 35 miles from the accident site near the town of Ocona.

Rescuers used military helicopters to airlift 11 seriously injured passengers to the regional capital Arequipa, Civil Defense chief Jacqueline Choque said.

The bus left the coastal town of Chala for Arequipa about four hours before the accident.

Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski sent his condolences to the victims' families on Twitter.

'All procedures have been activated for the immediate support of the rescue and the transfer of the victims to the nearest health centers,' he said.

It was the second major accident on Peru's roads this year. On January 2, a bus crashed into a ravine in the country's central coastal area, leaving 52 dead.

Authorities attributed that accident to the driver of a truck that crossed into the bus's path from the opposite lane of the Pasamayo highway, which branches off the Pan-American highway.

The toll from the Pasamayo crash matched that of an October 2013 accident in Cusco, southeast of Lima.

Nearly 2,700 people died in traffic accidents in Peru in 2016, according to the latest available official figures. </s> A double-decker bus ran off the Panamerican Highway and tumbled 200 metres down a cliff in southern Peru today, and police said at least 44 people died.

A crashed bus lies on the bottom of a cliff in Arequipa, Peru.

Highway Police chief Jorge Castillo told The Associated Press that the death toll had risen as officers counted more bodies and worked to rescue survivors.

Some were flown to hospitals in military helicopters.

About two dozen people were injured.

The bus operated by the Rey Latino line ran off the road shortly after midnight near the mouth of the Ocona River on Peru's southern Pacific coast.

The cause wasn't immediately known, but accidents caused by reckless driving on poorly maintained mountain roads claim dozens of lives every year in Peru.

In January 52 people were killed in the country's worst road fatality in four decades. </s> Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-13 07:31:09|Editor: ZD

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LIMA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people were killed in Peru on Sunday after a bus fell into a ravine in the western region of Ancash, police said.

The accident occurred in the Sihuas-Quiches highway, in an area known as Arenapampa, when the bus plummeted into a 100-meter deep ravine. The causes are still being investigated.

Rescue teams, aided by local inhabitants, were able to transport the injured to hospitals nearby. </s> A coach travelling along the Pan-American Highway in Peru has plunged off the road, killing at least 30 people, emergency officials say.

The accident happened at 01:30 local time (06:30 GMT) near the Ocaño bridge in Peru's southern Arequipa province.

Local media said the coach had fallen from a height that was variously described to be between 80m (260ft) and 200m (650ft).

Last month, 52 people died when another coach fell down a cliff in Peru.

In Wednesday's incident, the coach, which reportedly belongs to the Rey Latino company, was taking passengers from the town of Chala to the city of Arequipa.

A passenger list suggests at least 45 people had signed up for the journey but more could have joined on the way.

Arequipa civil defence official Jacqueline Choque said she had received reports that more than 30 people had died.

She told Peru's RPP News that "17 or 18 people" had been rescued and taken to hospital.

The cause of the accident is not yet known.

It comes seven weeks after another deadly accident on the Pan-American Highway north of the capital, Lima.

In that case, a lorry driver clipped the coach, causing the latter to veer off the road and down a steep cliff.
At least 15 people are killed in a crash between a bus and a truck in Arequipa, Peru.