Dozens dead as bus plunges off cliff near Peruvian capital Lima

At least 32 passengers have died, including two children, and more than 20 were injured when a bus plummeted from a cliff in Peru, officials said, in the country’s third multiple-victim transport accident in four days.

The accident happened on Tuesday on a narrow stretch of the Carretera Central road some 60 km (37 miles) east of the capital Lima. The road connects Lima to much of the central Andes.

“Unfortunately, at the moment, there are 32 dead,” said police commander Cesar Cervantes.

A six-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl were among the dead, police said.

There had been 63 passengers on the bus.

A search and rescue effort was underway for possible survivors and to recover bodies, the police department added on Twitter.

Cervantes said “recklessness” contributed to Tuesday’s accident, adding that the bus had been travelling “at high speed”.

According to survivor accounts, it hit a rock and plunged into an abyss some 200 metres (650 feet) deep.

On Sunday, 22 people died when two boats collided on the Amazon river in Peru. An undetermined number remain missing.

Two days earlier, another bus fell into a ravine in the country’s southeast, killing 17 people.

Road accidents are common in the Andean country due to speeding motorists, poorly maintained highways, a lack of road signs and poor traffic safety enforcement.