At Least 50 Killed After Bus Plunges Off Bridge and Crashes Into Ravine

A crowded bus in Guatemala plunged off a bridge and right into a polluted ravine, killing at the least 50 of its passengers.

Within the early hours of Monday, Feb. 10, the bus was touring down Belice Bridge when it collided with two automobiles and misplaced management, stories The New York Instances and CBS Information.

The collision triggered the bus — which had traveled out of Progreso, about 58 miles northeast of Guatemala Metropolis — to fall 115 toes right into a sewage-polluted stream, The Impartial reported.

The bus crashed by a metallic security railing and landed the other way up and half-submerged, trapping survivors, CBS Information reported. Photographs from the scene confirmed the entrance of the bus beneath water and the home windows cracked.

In line with The Tico Instances, an English-language media group based mostly in Costa Rica, the bus carried greater than 70 passengers. A New York Instances video confirmed at the least one male passenger being carried up the hill on a stretcher from the twisted wreckage. His situation is unknown.

Guatemala Metropolis Mayor Ricardo Quiñónez confirmed on X that emergency companies had been deployed to the realm and that visitors police had been engaged on establishing alternate routes for these touring to the realm.

Benemérito Cuerpo Voluntario de Bomberos de Guatemala, a volunteer fireplace division, stated on Fb that it took greater than six and a half hours to rescue the our bodies of the individuals who had been trapped within the bus.

Cruz Roja Guatemalteca, a non-profit group, stated on Fb that along with helping with restoration efforts, it helped supply “psychosocial assist and pre-hospital care to 100 members of the family on web site.”

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo spoke out concerning the incident on X, calling it a “tragedy.”

“I stand in solidarity with the households of the victims who wakened in the present day with heartbreaking information. Their ache is my ache,” he stated.

The president stated he has instructed “the mobilization of the Nationwide Military personnel and CONRED (a authorities company that helps with catastrophe reduction) to help on the scene.”

“Moreover, I’ve determined to declare nationwide mourning, which can quickly be formalized through authorities decree,” his assertion added.

Claudinne Ogaldes, CONRED’s government secretary, confirmed in a video replace on Monday afternoon that that crash left greater than 50 individuals lifeless. The Nationwide Civil Police of Guatemala (Policía Nacional Civil de Guatemala) recognized the variety of individuals lifeless as 54 on Monday evening in an replace on X and stated that 10 others had been injured.

“The CONRED system, by the rescue forces and municipal authorities, has completed the search and rescue operations. The native emergency middle for Zone 6 stays lively,” stated Ogaldes.

She requested the general public to “keep knowledgeable by official sources” and to permit the Public Ministry and INACIF (Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Forenses de Guatemala) to determine victims.

INACIF launched a press launch late on Monday asserting that it had recognized 23 our bodies and famous that their reason for demise was polytrauma.

In line with the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, polytrauma is “when a affected person has sustained a number of accidents, a few of which can trigger vital incapacity and could also be life-threatening.”

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INAFIC stated that its morgue in Zone 3 has 14 our bodies which can be pending identification, together with these of three underage youngsters. As of Monday evening, the our bodies of 35 people had been turned over to their households, per the Nationwide Civil Police of Guatemala.