51 Killed in Peru Bus Crash

VOA News
3 January 2018 (8:39PM)

Fifty-one people were killed when a bus plunged 100 meters down a cliff and landed on a beach in Peru. Authorities called it one of the deadliest vehicle accidents in the nation’s history.

Six people survived the crash Tuesday, one of whom jumped out of the bus moments before it fell.

Rescuers worked for more than 24 hours recovering bodies from the wreckage on a rocky beach with no road access.

The bus collided with a tractor-trailer on a narrow stretch of highway known as the “Devil’s Curve’’ in Pasamayo, north of the capital, Lima.

The road, which runs alongside the Pacific Ocean, is considered one of the most dangerous in Peru.

It has 52 curves in a stretch of 22 kilometers bordered by a low wall just 50 centimeters high. Sea spray and fog make it particularly treacherous.

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski announced Wednesday that he was ordering the transportation ministry to begin working on plans to expand a nearby road farther from the cliff so buses no longer have to use the “Devil’s Curve.’’

More than 2,600 people were killed in road accidents in Peru in 2016, most of which involved buses that carry travelers in the countryside.

Poor road conditions and little enforcement of traffic safety regulations are blamed for most crashes.