South Peru bus accident kills 19 and injures 37

19 died and 37 injured in the Ayacucho, South Peru, bus accident according to Puquio-Lucanas provincial prosecutor’s office, Daniel Sotelo. The bus has fallen to a ravine 500 metres (1640feet) down. ‘It’s an area where these kinds of accidents always happen, as the area had torrential rain’ Saravia said.

Rescue teams have been sent to the area, ‘Aiding the injured is difficult because of both the weather situation and the rough terrain,’ Bravo said. Preliminary reports said that the bus went off the highway at 5.30 a.m. on Monday and plunged into a ravine. The cause of the accident has not yet been determined, officials said.

Last week, a crash involving three buses and a truck killed 37 people and injured 70 on a highway about 270 km north of the country’s capital Lima. The accident rate in Peru’s interior regions ae extremely high. Poor road condition, and antediluvian bus fleet and drivers who obtain licences on the ‘black market’ by paying between $30 and $50, according to experts