Image copyright EPA Image caption The coach was carrying more than 60 passengers when it came off the road

The number of people killed when a coach plunged off the Pan-American Highway in Peru has risen to 44.

The bus veered off the road in a curve and plummeted 100m (330ft) down a rocky river bank.

The accident happened in the early hours of Wednesday near the Ocoña bridge in southern Arequipa province.

Emergency workers retrieved 43 bodies and one victim died later in hospital. Last month, 52 people died when another coach fell down a cliff in Peru.

More than 20 people were injured in Wednesday's accident.

The double-decker coach from the Rey Latino company was taking passengers from the town of Chala to the city of Arequipa, 400km (250 miles) away, when it came off the road.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The coach plummeted down a rocky river bank

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The coach was travelling at night from Chala to Arequipa

The cause of the accident is not yet known but Rey Latino has been suspended for 90 days while investigations are under way.

Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski expressed his condolences to the relatives of those killed in a tweet [in Spanish].

The accident comes seven weeks after another deadly accident on the Pan-American Highway north of the capital, Lima.

In that case, a lorry driver clipped a coach, causing the latter to veer off the road and down a steep cliff.

Local media reported that the Pan-American Highway was the road with the second highest number of accidents in Peru last year.

Long stretches of the highway, which winds along the Pacific Ocean, do not have a guard rail and there is often a sheer drop.</s>A coach travelling along the Pan-American Highway in Peru has plunged off the road, killing at least 30 people, emergency officials say.

The accident happened at 01:30 local time (06:30 GMT) near the Ocaño bridge in Peru's southern Arequipa province.

Local media said the coach had fallen from a height that was variously described to be between 80m (260ft) and 200m (650ft).

Last month, 52 people died when another coach fell down a cliff in Peru.

In Wednesday's incident, the coach, which reportedly belongs to the Rey Latino company, was taking passengers from the town of Chala to the city of Arequipa.

A passenger list suggests at least 45 people had signed up for the journey but more could have joined on the way.

Arequipa civil defence official Jacqueline Choque said she had received reports that more than 30 people had died.

She told Peru's RPP News that "17 or 18 people" had been rescued and taken to hospital.

The cause of the accident is not yet known.

It comes seven weeks after another deadly accident on the Pan-American Highway north of the capital, Lima.

In that case, a lorry driver clipped the coach, causing the latter to veer off the road and down a steep cliff.</s>At least 30 people died after a bus plunged off the Pan-American Highway in Peru on Wednesday, BBC reported.

The incident took place at 1.30 am local time (12 noon Indian time) near the Ocaño bridge in Arequipa province.

The coach fell from a height that reports estimated differently between 80 metres and 200 metres. It was taking passengers from the town of Chala to the city of Arequipa.

Local civil defence official Jacqueline Choque said “17 or 18 people” were rescued and taken to a hospital. The cause of the accident is not known yet.

This comes just over a month after 48 people died when a bus collided with a truck on a highway north of the Peruvian capital city of Lima and fell off a cliff.</s>Lima: At least 44 people were killed and 24 others injured when a bus skidded off the road and plunged into a river in Peru’s Arequipa region, authorities said.

Seven of the injured are in serious condition, including three children, reports Efe news agency.

The accident occurred on Wednesday on the Pan-American Highway.

The authorities were still trying to determine what caused the bus to skid off the road and plunge 200 metres into the Ocona River.

The bus was travelling from Chala to Arequipa city, and was running on an expired operating permit, the transportation ministry said.

“My condolences to the families of the victims of the transit accident in Arequipa,” President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski tweeted.</s>LIMA, Peru — At least 44 people died and 20 others were injured in southern Peru on Wednesday when a passenger bus fell off a cliff on the nation’s most important highway — the second such bus accident this year on the notoriously dangerous road.

The two accidents prompted outrage here that the authorities are not doing enough to prevent such episodes despite their frequency and the loss of life involved. In January, 51 people died when a bus plunged off a cliff along a foggy stretch of road so infamous it is known as the “devil’s curve.”

Both accidents occurred on the Pan-American Highway, which stretches the length of the country parallel to the Pacific Ocean. Despite its importance, the vast majority of the road is narrow, with a single lane going each way as it meanders through the Andean hills.

As with many highways here, the roadside is dotted with crosses memorializing where people have died in road accidents. The bus that plunged 260 feet off the cliff on Wednesday had just passed a sign saying “Drive Carefully.” A few feet away, a sign pointing in the other direction warned drivers of the serpentine road awaiting them.

In that area, near the town of Ocoña, the Pan-American Highway goes along a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and then along a cliff overlooking a river, which is where Wednesday’s accident occurred. In many parts, the road has no guardrails.

The authorities were investigating the cause of the accident. Jacqueline Choque, who leads the local office of Indeci, the civil defense agency, suggested that the driver was to blame.</s>A double-decker bus ran off the Panamerican Highway and tumbled 200 metres down a cliff in southern Peru today, and police said at least 44 people died.

A crashed bus lies on the bottom of a cliff in Arequipa, Peru.

Highway Police chief Jorge Castillo told The Associated Press that the death toll had risen as officers counted more bodies and worked to rescue survivors.

Some were flown to hospitals in military helicopters.

About two dozen people were injured.

The bus operated by the Rey Latino line ran off the road shortly after midnight near the mouth of the Ocona River on Peru's southern Pacific coast.

The cause wasn't immediately known, but accidents caused by reckless driving on poorly maintained mountain roads claim dozens of lives every year in Peru.

In January 52 people were killed in the country's worst road fatality in four decades.</s>A double-decker bus veered off a mountain road and plunged into a ravine in southern Peru Wednesday, killing at least 44 people.

The bus tumbled 260 feet down a jagged slope from the Pan-American highway - Peru's main motorway.

Arequipa police chief General Walter Ortiz 'confirms 44 deaths,' the interior ministry said on its Twitter account, updating an earlier toll of 35.

Ortiz said 45 people were registered as passengers on the bus, but the ministry said this did not match the number of people killed or injured.

The bus operated by the Rey Latino line ran off the road near the mouth of the Ocona River on Peru's southern Pacific coast.

However, interprovincial buses in Peru frequently pick-up and drop-off passengers en route, resulting in discrepancies in the original passenger list.

Amid the confusion, the authorities did not specify the number of people injured. It was also not known if the driver was among them.

The accident happened in darkness around 1:30 am.

Rescue teams including firefighters and police 'have been working since dawn, coordinating the transfer and care of the injured,' Arequipa governor Yamila Osorio wrote on her Twitter account.

'The on-duty prosecutor is carrying out the removal of the corpses and experts from the police traffic accident investigation section are investigating the causes of the accident,' traffic police chief Colonel Jorge Castillo said.

The injured were taken to hospital in the city of Camana, some 35 miles from the accident site near the town of Ocona.

Rescuers used military helicopters to airlift 11 seriously injured passengers to the regional capital Arequipa, Civil Defense chief Jacqueline Choque said.

The bus left the coastal town of Chala for Arequipa about four hours before the accident.

Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski sent his condolences to the victims' families on Twitter.

'All procedures have been activated for the immediate support of the rescue and the transfer of the victims to the nearest health centers,' he said.

It was the second major accident on Peru's roads this year. On January 2, a bus crashed into a ravine in the country's central coastal area, leaving 52 dead.

Authorities attributed that accident to the driver of a truck that crossed into the bus's path from the opposite lane of the Pasamayo highway, which branches off the Pan-American highway.

The toll from the Pasamayo crash matched that of an October 2013 accident in Cusco, southeast of Lima.

Nearly 2,700 people died in traffic accidents in Peru in 2016, according to the latest available official figures.</s>LIMA: At least 44 people died and 20 others were injured in southern Peru on Wednesday when a passenger bus fell off a cliff on the nation's most important highway — the second such bus accident this year on the notoriously dangerous road.

The two accidents prompted outrage that the authorities are not doing enough to prevent such tragedies. In January, 51 people died when a bus plunged off a cliff along a foggy stretch of road so infamous it is known as the "devil's curve."

Both accidents occurred on the Pan-American Highway, which stretches the length of the country parallel to the Pacific Ocean. Despite its importance, most of the road is narrow, with a single lane going each way as it meanders through the Andean hills.

Sadly, the roadside is dotted with crosses memorialising where people have died in road accidents. The bus that plunged 260 feet off on Wednesday had passed a sign saying "Drive Carefully." A few feet away, a sign pointing in the other direction warned drivers of the serpentine road ahead.

In that area, near the town of Ocoña, the Pan-American Highway goes along a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and then along a cliff overlooking a river, which is where Wednesday's accident occurred. In many parts, the road has no guardrails.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident. Jacqueline Choque, who leads the local office of Indeci, the civil defense agency, suggested the driver was to blame.

But David Fairlie, a road safety expert with the advocacy group Asociación Cruzada Vial, said authorities should have taken steps years ago to prevent such accidents.

"They just blame the driver or the transportation company because it's the easiest thing to do and it doesn't involve the authorities' accepting any responsibility," Fairlie said. "It is frustrating and appalling that accidents keep happening and authorities don't take any measures."

Roads should be designed "so they can forgive human error," said Alfonso Flórez, general manager of Fundación Transitemos, a road safety group. "We should stop building cheap highways."

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Prime Minister Mercedes Aráoz took to Twitter to offer their condolences to the victims' families, and Transportation Minister Bruno Giuffra called the episode an "unfortunate accident." None addressed accident prevention.

After last month's accident, Giuffra told Congress the private company that operates that stretch of road had not been contractually required to improve safety in the "devil's curve." He vowed to review all agreements involving privately managed highways.

The accident on Wednesday occurred on a stretch of highway managed by the government.

Paul Concha, Giuffra's director of ground transportation, told news channel Canal N that the government had established new safety guidelines for highway construction.

"I think it's also important to note that we've begun a review to completely reform the way driver's licences are approved to ensure that drivers are properly trained to drive," Concha added.</s>The number of confirmed deaths from Wednesday's bus accident in the southern region of Arequipa has reached 44, while 24 injured passengers have been taken to hospitals, Peru's Indeci civil defense agency said.

Seven of the injured are in serious condition, including three young children.

The accident occurred around 12:30 am on the Pan-American Highway inside the limits of the town of Ocoña.

Authorities are still trying to determine what caused the bus to run off the road and plunge 200 meters (655 ft) to the bottom of a ravine along the banks of the Ocoña River.

The bus was traveling from Chala to Arequipa city, the regional capital, and was running on an expired operating permit, the transportation ministry said.

"My condolences to the families of the victims of the transit accident in Arequipa," President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said on Twitter.</s>At least 44 people died in Peru on Wednesday when a bus hurtled some 100 metres into a ravine in the mountainous south in the country’s second major bus crash this year, a local official said.

“According to a report from the Peruvian National Police, there are 44 confirmed deaths as of now,” Yamila Osorio, the governor of the Arequipa region, wrote on Twitter.

The bus was carrying some 45 passengers, according to operator Rey Latino, but police said the figure was likely higher because additional passengers boarded along the route and did not appear in the initial register.

The crash occurred on a curve on the Panamericana Sur highway in the Ocona district. Road accidents are common in Peru, where roads are considered unsafe and bus drivers lack training.

“My condolences to the relatives of the victims of the transit accident in Arequipa,” President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski wrote on Twitter. “We have taken all steps to provide immediate rescue support and transfer victims to the closest health centres so they can be attended immediately.”

At least 48 people died in early January when a bus collided with a truck and careened off a cliff near the area of Pasamayo on the Pacific coast.
A coach transiting the Pan-American Highway plunges off the road in Arequipa, Peru, killing 44 people.