A tour bus plunged 1,300ft into a wooded ravine in southern Brazil after the driver reportedly lost control on a bend, killing at least 40 people.About 50 passengers were supposed to be travelling on the bus, but authorities said they thought the number was higher than that.The death toll had initially been put at about 30 but the number rose as rescuers continued to find bodies at the crash site in a mountainous area of Santa Catarina state, a government spokesman said.
Three children who had been rescued died later at a nearby hospital.The accident occurred at a curve near a stretch of highway near the city of Campo Alegre, a popular stop for tourists.Witnesses told local media that the driver appeared to lose control, but the cause was still under investigation."There are people out there, on the hill, in the bus, trapped in the wreckage. But the chances of finding someone alive are pretty slim," state police Colonel Nelson Coelho said in a statement.Several drivers stopped on the roadside to try to help victims as they waited for emergency services to arrive.Some 43,000 Brazilians are killed in road accidents annually, and from 2002-2012, the accident rate surged by over 24%.With the economy growing and the population topping 200 million, an estimated 10,000 new cars are added to Brazil's roads every day.
Post a Comment