Lima:

At least 23 people died and more than a dozen were injured when a bus plunged into a ravine from a  mountain road in northern Peru, local authorities said Monday.

Local official Olga Bobadilla told RPP radio the incident late Sunday happened on a potholed dirt road in the Andean region of Cajamarca, “and the bus fell into an abyss” some 200 meters (some 650 feet) deep.

The bus with more than 50 passengers ended up on the edge a river, and some of those on board were swept away by the water, municipal official Jaime Herrera said.

Rescue workers and firefighters were at the scene of the crash, from where the injured have been evacuated to hospital.

The Celendin municipality declared 48 hours of mourning as dozens of people, many crying, gathered at a police station near the accident scene, desperate for news of their loved ones.

Accidents are frequent on Peruvian roads due to speeding, poor road conditions, lack of signs and poor enforcement of traffic rules.

Last year, the country registered more than 3,100 deaths from traffic accidents.

Authorities are investigating whether the bus was roadworthy.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

In a shocking moment captured on dashcam, two vehicles were crushed by an avalanche of enormous boulders that fell down a Peruvian mountainside on Saturday. The hair-raising moment showed fast-moving rocks hitting the truck and flipping it on its side on a road in the San Mateo district of Huanchor, as per a report in the CNN.

Further, other small rocks fell from the mountainside and another gigantic boulder fell from the mountain and crashed into the road, in front of a second vehicle, causing a massive crater, according to the video.

Watch the video below:

Abrupt highway drive

Drivers survived, according to multiple reports. Central Highway in Peru pic.twitter.com/ic2O78GaSN

— Real Untold Story (@RealUntoldStory) March 3, 2024

Miraculously, both the drivers of the two commercial trucks survived. However, their cargo was crushed and a stretch of the Central Highway was destroyed.

Photos of the aftermath show hundreds of stones of various sizes littering the road, as well as the wreckage of the two vehicles, one of which was on its side. According to the authorities, it took four hours to clear the road. 

Meanwhile, an investigation is underway to understand the exact cause of the accident. Officials believe that rains in the region could have led to the destabilization of the terrain.

In 2023, Peru witnessed landslides triggered by heavy rains since the beginning of February. This resulted in the death of several people while many were reported missing across the country. Two miners who were working in the Puno district of southeast Peru were killed after a rock fell on them. At least 18 people were killed after being swept away by a landslide near the mines in the Arequipa Region. Many were also reported injured.