At least 35 passengers killed in Peru bus accident

LIMA, Peru – A passenger bus plunged off a bridge into a river on Saturday, killing at least 35 people and injuring 30 others in central Peru.

The bus, which had departed hours earlier from Lima, carried mostly vendors taking their wares to a weekend market, radio reports said. The accident happened about 100 miles east of the capital, near the town of Jauja.

Thirty-five bodies were recovered and 30 people were being treated for injuries, said Mansueto Arche, a spokesman at the Domingo Olavegoya Hospital in Jauja.

Arche said more bodies were believed to be inside the bus, which was partially submerged in the Mantaro River.

“The accident happened in the morning when it seemed like the driver lost control of the vehicle turning a curve and coming onto the bridge, where it broke through a guardrail and fell,” a survivor identified as Javier Salcedo told Radioprogramas.