Fatal accident

Brazil: 22 people burnt to death helplessly in bus

(Bild: AFP/Minas Gerais Fire Department)

At least 38 people were killed in a bus accident in south-eastern Brazil on Saturday. The bus caught fire in an accident in the state of Minas Gerais, according to the fire department.

Eight other people were taken to hospital with serious injuries, the police said. The fire department initially spoke of 22 fatalities, but the number of victims continued to rise throughout the day. A fire department spokeswoman said that many of the victims in the completely burnt-out bus were charred beyond recognition.

The fatal accident on the BR-116 - a highway that runs from north to south and is considered the busiest highway in Brazil - involved a car, an articulated truck and the coach, which began to burn in the collision.

(Bild: AFP/Minas Gerais Fire Department)

"After hours of work, the firefighters managed to extinguish the flames." 22 burnt people who had been trapped in the bus were taken out of the vehicle, the authorities said.

Bus driver also among the fatalities
After questioning eyewitnesses, firefighters then said that the bus may also have been hit by a boulder during a landslide and then collided with the truck and burst into flames. According to the fire department, the bus driver and at least one child are among the dead.

The terrible accident involved a car, an articulated truck (pictured) and the bus.

(Bild: AFP/Minas Gerais Fire Department)

Contradictory information about the course of the accident
There was initially conflicting information about the cause of the accident. Shortly after the accident, the fire department announced that a tire on the bus coming from São Paulo had burst near the town of Lajinha. The bus driver lost control of the vehicle as a result and collided with a truck. Another vehicle then hit the bus from behind, but the occupants of this vehicle survived the accident.

13 dead in bus accident in Bolivia
There was also a fatal bus accident in the neighboring South American country of Bolivia. At least 13 people were killed and three injured there when a bus collided with a truck on Friday, according to the police.

The accident occurred on a highway in the Bolivian Andes. According to initial findings, the driver of the truck lost control of his vehicle on the road from the capital La Paz to Orurodie.