At least 21 people die in road accident in Bolivia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to a preliminary police report, at least 21 people were killed. Ten others were injured Monday afternoon when the bus they were traveling in fell into a ravine in a rural area of central Bolivia.

Rescue efforts were continuing into Monday (6). The injured were being taken to medical centers in the city of Quillacollo city, said area Transit police chief Major Helsner Torrico. “We have counted 21 people dead, among them three minors,” he said.

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The bus fell into a ravine more than two hundred meters deep while on its way from the rural town of Morochata to Quillacollo in Cochabamba province.

The accident occurred on a winding dirt road in a mountainous region. “In that area, the road is no more than four meters wide,” Sabino García of Morochata’s rural radio station told Associated Press.

Corrales said firefighters had recovered the bodies at the scene of the accident to take to the local forensic investigations institute, while the injured were taken to nearby hospitals in Colomi, Sacaba, and Cochabamba.

Television images showed the bus embedded in bushes in the area, where visibility is usually poor due to fog.

National Transit Director Colonel Juan Carlos Espinoza told the media that according to the preliminary report, the accident was apparently due to human error, although he clarified that the causes will be determined by technical investigations.