At least 51 die in Guatemala bus accident

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GUATEMALA CITY: A bus veered off a highway bridge into a polluted ravine in Guatemala City early on Monday, killing at least 51 people and trapping survivors, a spokesperson for the city’s fire department said.

The densely packed bus was traveling into the capital from the town of San Agustin Acasaguastlan on a busy route into the city from when it plunged approximately 20 meters from Puente Belice, a highway bridge that crosses over a road and creek.

The spokesman, Carlos Hernandez, said the bodies of 36 men and 15 women had been sent to a provincial morgue set up for the accident.

Images shared by the fire department on social media showed the bus partially submerged in wastewater surrounded by victims’ bodies.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo declared three days of national mourning and deployed the country’s army and disaster agency to assist response efforts.

“I stand in solidarity with the families of the victims who today woke up to heartbreaking news. Their pain is my pain,” Arevalo said on social media.

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This bus accident recalled the tragic incident happened in October 2013 when at least 43 people were killed and dozens injured after a bus plunged off a steep cliff in western Guatemala.

This was one of the nation’s deadliest road incidents in 2013 and Guatemalan President Otto Perez had declared three days of mourning.

The bus had gone off a cliff on a hairpin bend, falling at least 100 meters (330 feet) into a river at the bottom of a ravine in the municipality of San Martin Jilotepeque, 64 kilometers (40 miles) west of the capital, Guatemala City.

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