At least 37 killed and 24 injured in horror bus crash after coach plunges 700ft down ravine in Peru

AT LEAST 37 people have been killed and another 24 injured in a horror bus crash in Peru.

The vehicle plunged nearly 700 feet down an enormous ravine near Ocona in the country’s southern region of Arequipa.

Harrowing pictures of the accident show the bus lying on its side by a river.

Sixty passengers were on board when the vehicle collided with a white van, sending it hurtling off the road in the early hours of this morning.

A regional health chief confirmed the death toll stands at 37 so far, and said there are 24 injured, while another report puts that number at 26.

Injured survivors are currently receiving treatment at a hospital and a health centre.

The bus had left the town of Chela, bordering the Pacific Ocean in Peru’s Caraveli Province, on Tuesday, bound for Arequipa 250 miles south-east.

It came off the road on a part of the southern Pan-American Highway that has been categorised as “dangerous”.

In February 2018, 35 people died in a bus accident on the same stretch of highway.

While 48 were killed on a stretch of road known as ‘the devil’s curve’ the month before that.

Last month, 17 people died in a horrifying bus crash in Brazil.

That accident happened at night-time in the north-east Brazilian state of Pernambuco.

Police told local media the bus, which was carrying more than 30 passengers, drove towards oncoming traffic and hit rocks by the side of the road.

The driver, one of two in the vehicle, is said to have returned to the correct lane before colliding with a sand embankment and overturning.

Distressing pictures showed the bus on its side with its windows shattered, while ambulances raced to the scene with their sirens blasting.

Both drivers reportedly survived the crash, and the one at the wheel told police that brake failure was to blame.

In October 2023, a British tourist died and nearly 30 other holidaymakers were injured in another Peruvian coach crash.

The man killed, 39-year-old Nicholas Charles Newman, was reportedly crushed under the vehicle after it came off the road and rolled over several times before coming to a halt.

Another British national, a 35-year-old woman, was among the 28 injured.

The travellers were returning from a popular tourist destination called the Mountain of Seven Colours in the Peruvian Andes when the tragedy occurred.