13 killed after bus tumbles down cliff in Bolivia

Thirteen people have been killed and more than 10 others were injured after a bus fell off a cliff along a Bolivian highway on Wednesday night, said Efrain Urquidi, captain of the highway police of the Cochabamba Department.

Speaking to the press, Urquidi said that the accident was reported involving a passenger bus of the Trans Lujan company.

According to the police chief, one of the injured passengers said a trailer attached to a truck hit the side of the bus and sent it falling off 200 meters down a cliff.

The accident happened around midnight on Wednesday night in the area of Llavini along the Oruro-Cochabamba highway.

The international bus had departed from the city of Iquique in Chile and was heading for the city of Cochabamba in central Bolivia.

Urquidi added that a search had begun for the truck involved, and the driver had fled the scene.

The police got to the scene quickly and began rescuing the passengers, with the wounded sent to the Viedma hospital in Cochabamba.

No information has been released about the identity of the victims.

source: Xinhua