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About 30 dead after Argentinian border staff's bus crashes into ravine About 30 dead after Argentinian border staff's bus crashes into ravine
(35 minutes later)
A bus carrying Argentinian border patrol officers has crashed into a ravine in the northern province of Salta, killing about 30 people, provincial emergency director Ernesto Flores has told local radio station La Red. At least 41 police officers were killed when a bus in a convoy in northern Argentina went off the side of a bridge and crashed into a ravine.
“We are talking about close to 30 dead,” he said on Monday. “Between 50 and 60 border patrol officers were onboard. Some are still trapped.” The bus was one of three carrying police near Salta, a city about 900 miles north of Buenos Aires.
Some press reports estimated as many as 40 people were killed, as rescue crews worked to free trapped passengers. “For reasons that are still unknown, the bus lost control while entering the bridge and fell into the creek bed below,” said a statement issued by the National Gendarmerie, a special police force typically charged with patrolling frontier regions.
President Mauricio Macri, elected last month on a platform that included improving Argentina’s rural roads, sent his condolences to families of the victims of the crash. Local television images showed rescue crews working around the overturned bus, which authorities said was carrying around 60 people.
Gustavo Diaz, head of a group of volunteer firefighters in the area, told state news agency Telam that 20 police were severely injured and were being treated in area hospitals.
The group was heading to the province of Jujuy, the country’s most northern region that borders Bolivia.
Roads in Argentina are poorly maintained in many rural areas. President Mauricio Macri, elected last month on a platform that included improving Argentina’s rural roads, sent his condolences to families of the victims of the crash.
“We need to improve our highways so these things don’t keep happening,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference in Buenos Aires province.“We need to improve our highways so these things don’t keep happening,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference in Buenos Aires province.
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