At least 55 dead in Guatemala bus disaster

At least 55 people were killed when a bus crashed through a guard rail and plunged into a ravine in Guatemala.

Firefighters work at the scene where a bus fell down a ravine in Guatemala City. Picture: AFP

At least 55 people were killed when a bus crashed through a guard rail and plunged into a ravine in Guatemala in one of the worst road accidents in Latin America in years.

The bus was carrying about 70 people when it fell into a river contaminated with sewage in Guatemala City, creating difficult conditions for rescuers.

“So far, 53 people have died at the scene,” a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office said. Two others died after they were admitted to hospital.

The bodies recovered at the site were taken to an improvised morgue in a nearby community hall where several distressed relatives went, fearing the worst.

One woman said four of her nieces and nephews were thought to have been on the bus.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo expressed his sorrow and declared an unspecified period of national mourning.

“Today is a difficult day for the Guatemalan nation,” Mr Arevalo said.

The city fire department said the driver apparently lost control of the bus and collided with several cars before plunging over the precipice.

“The bus kept going, broke through a metal railing, and fell into a ravine about 20m deep until it reached the sewage-contaminated river,” an official said.

Lines of firefighters passed bodies pulled from the murky, garbage-filled ­waters up the slope on stretchers.

“We’re having a hard time with the rescue work,” firefighter Luis Quintanilla said.

“We’ve been underwater for more than three hours trying to rescue the body of an apparently male person who is trapped ­between the twisted metal of the bus.”

The bus was travelling to Guatemala City from the town of San Agustin Acasaguastlan about 90km northeast.

Communications Minister Miguel Angel Diaz said an initial investigation showed the bus was 30 years old but still had a ­licence to operate.

He said the cause of the early morning accident was still unknown and that investigators were looking into whether the bus was overloaded with passengers.

Road accidents leading to dozens of deaths are common in Central and South America. In January 2018, 52 people were killed in Peru when a bus fell off a cliff on to a beach north of the capital, Lima.

AFP