Bus passengers pleaded with a speeding driver to slow down moments before he crashed it into a 656-foot Peruvian valley, killing at least 29 and injuring 24.
Police general César Cervantes said one of the victims was a six-year-old child. Three children were diagnosed with injuries.
'29 bodies have been recovered so far,' San Mateo police mayor Freddy Loarte told reporters. 'We are waiting for the arrival of a crane.'
The accident took place in the town of Matucana, along Peru's Central Highway, a corridor that connects the capital Lima to much of the central Andes.
The bus, carrying 63 passengers, departed from Huánuco on Monday at 8:30 pm local time and was headed toward Lima. The crash reportedly took place around 4:00am.
The injured were rushed to Matucana Hospital and Chosica Hospital.
A bus crashed on Peru's Central Highway near the town of Matucana on Tuesday, killing at least 29 passengers and injuring 24. Authorities said the driver was speeding and hit a rock on before he lost control as the bus tumbled into the abyss and landed near a river basin
Peruvian authorities tend to some of the 24 injured bus passengers following Tuesday morning's crash that claimed the lives of 29 people
First responders carry an injured bus passenger during Tuesday morning's recovery efforts after a vehicle carrying 63 passengers crashed and landed 656 feet below the road surface near the RÃmac River basin
Cervantes said the deadly crash was caused by the speeding driver, who collided with a rock before losing control of the bus, landing 656 feet below the road surface near the RÃmac River basin.
One of the passengers, 24-year-old Clinton Bacilio, was traveling with his wife, Luz Tineo, who had to be hospitalized due to an injury, and recalled that the passengers begged the driver to slow down moments following the crash, according to Peruvian newspaper El Comercio.
'I remember that the bus crashed and kept moving. My wife and I decided to hold on to the seat in case it suddenly overturned, around because something happens,' Bacilio said. 'At that moment the bus leans down. We got away from the seat, we walked around and the bus came sliding.'
Members of rescue teams recover the bodies of the deceased, at the location of a bus accident in Matucana, Peru, on Tuesday
Members of rescue teams help at the location of a bus accident in Peru early Tuesday. Authorities confirmed 29 passengers were killed and 24 were injured
The limit for passenger buses on Peru highways is 55 miles per hour. The transportation department issued 77,511 speeding infractions between January 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021.
Tuesday's accident is the second involving a bus plunging from a road in Peru in a matter of days, after a bus carrying mining workers in a different part of the Andes also fell here off a cliff and killed 16 on Friday.
The two incidents are unrelated, although bus plunges are not uncommon in Peru, especially in the Andes. The mountain range traverses the length of the country and its highways are often dangerous, overlooking tall cliffs.
