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Peru coach plunged 100m (330ft) down river bank killing 44 | |
(about 20 hours later) | |
The number of people killed when a coach plunged off the Pan-American Highway in Peru has risen to 44. | |
The bus veered off the road in a curve and plummeted 100m (330ft) down a rocky river bank. | |
The accident happened in the early hours of Wednesday near the Ocoña bridge in southern Arequipa province. | |
Emergency workers retrieved 43 bodies and one victim died later in hospital. Last month, 52 people died when another coach fell down a cliff in Peru. | |
More than 20 people were injured in Wednesday's accident. | |
The double-decker coach from the Rey Latino company was taking passengers from the town of Chala to the city of Arequipa, 400km (250 miles) away, when it came off the road. | |
The cause of the accident is not yet known but Rey Latino has been suspended for 90 days while investigations are under way. | |
Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski expressed his condolences to the relatives of those killed in a tweet [in Spanish]. | Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski expressed his condolences to the relatives of those killed in a tweet [in Spanish]. |
The accident comes seven weeks after another deadly accident on the Pan-American Highway north of the capital, Lima. | |
In that case, a lorry driver clipped a coach, causing the latter to veer off the road and down a steep cliff. | |
Local media reported that the Pan-American Highway was the road with the second highest number of accidents in Peru last year. | |
Long stretches of the highway, which winds along the Pacific Ocean, do not have a guard rail and there is often a sheer drop. |