40 killed when bus plunges into ravine in southeastern Peru

Peru bus crash kills 40 passengers

LIMA, Peru — Police say 40 people died when a bus carrying mainly Quechua farmers and merchants home for Christmas plunged into a ravine on a remote highway in the southeastern Andes.

Alberto Palomino of the Cusco Highway Police says the dawn accident 380 miles (610 kilometers) southeast of Lima injured an untold number of passengers.

The cause of Thursday’s crash is under investigation. Local teacher Edison Olivares said the highway is in bad condition with many potholes.

Olivares said the nearest village didn’t have a doctor so the injured had to be transported to the larger town of Espinar.

A doctor in Espinar told a local radio station that he asked the government for gasoline for the town’s only ambulance.