According to the rescuers, the driver lost control of the bus.
At least 51 people died after the bus with 75 passengers crashed from the highway bridge to a polluted gorge in the capital Guatemala. The survivors remained stuck in ruins, writes TASR according to AP reports and The Guardian.
The local authorities reported that there are 36 men and 15 women among the victims, whose bodies send to the local morgue set up for this accident. According to AP, several children died in an accident.
Collapsed into the abyss
The bus traveled along a busy route to Guatemala when it fell from the Puente Belice Bridge in the north of the metropolis. According to the rescuers, the driver lost control of the bus and collided with several small vehicles before the fall into the abyss.
“The bus continued to drive, broke through the metal railing and collapsed into a gorge of about 20 meters deep until it fell into the river contaminated with wastewater,” the local authorities said.
The bus allegedly landed in the gorge inverted on the contrary and half -immersed in the river. The shots of the local media showed firefighters pulling out the bodies of victims from the brandy water full of garbage and serving them on the stretcher up the slope, writes The Guardian.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arovalo declared a three -day state mourning and deployed an army and disaster agency to help eliminate the consequences of the accident. “I am showing solidarity to the families of the victims that have woke up into (these) heartbreaking messages. Their pain is also my pain, “said Arévalo on social networks.
According to the Minister for Communication Miguel Angela Díaza, he was 30 years old, but he was still authorized to operate. He added that the cause of the accident is not yet known, but will be the subject of further investigation.
