Over 50 dead after Guatemala bus plunges into ravine
At least 51 people were killed in Guatemala City on Monday when a bus crashed through a guard rail and plunged into a ravine, rescuers said, one of the worst road accidents in Latin America in years.
The municipal fire department said the bodies of 51 people were retrieved from the wreckage of the bus, which was carrying more than 70 people when it crashed off a bridge into a river contaminated with effluent.
Victor Gomez, spokesperson for the Volunteer Firefighters group that was involved in the rescue effort, confirmed that there were "51 bodies in the provisional morgue."
Rescuers had already managed to extricate 10 injured people from the wreckage.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo expressed sorrow over the tragedy and declared an unspecified period of national mourning.
"Today is a difficult day for the Guatemalan nation," he said.
The fire department said the driver lost control of the bus and collided with several small vehicles before plunging over the precipice.
"The bus kept going, broke through a metal railing, and fell into a ravine about 20 meters (65 feet) deep until it reached the sewage-contaminated river," the department's Carlos Hernandez told reporters.
AFPTV images showed lines of firefighters passing bodies pulled from the murky waters, which were filled with trash, up the slope on stretchers.
According to local media, the bus was traveling to Guatemala City from the town of San Agustin Acasaguastlan in El Progreso department, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) to the northeast.
Communications Minister Miguel Angel Diaz said an initial investigation showed that the bus was 30 years old but still had a license to operate.
He said that the cause of the early morning accident was still unknown and that investigators were looking into whether the bus was overloaded with passengers.
Road accidents leading to dozens of fatalities are common in Central and South America.
In January 2018, 52 people were killed in Peru when a bus fell off a cliff onto a beach north of the capital Lima.
In Brazil, 54 people were killed in March 2015 in a tourist bus crash in the southern state of Santa Catarina.
Agence France-Presse
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Gulf Today
UK teens sentenced for killing 80-year-old grandfather
A UK judge Thursday sentenced a 15-year-old boy to seven years' detention for the "wicked" killing of an octogenarian grandfather but a girl who filmed the attack on her phone was spared custody. The killing of Bhim Kohli, 80, as he walked his dog in a park on the outskirts of Leicester in central England last September is one of several cases of youth violence that has shocked the UK in past months. The boy, who was 14 and wearing a balaclava at the time of the killing punched, kicked and racially abused Kohli during the attack. He suffered a broken neck and rib fractures and died in hospital the following day after being found lying on the ground by his children. The girl, then aged 12, encouraged the assault and laughed as she filmed it on a phone. She later stored a series of clips of the violence in a password protected folder on Snapchat. Passing sentence, judge Mark Turner told the boy: "What you did was wicked. You made a cowardly and violent attack on an elderly man." He sentenced the girl, now aged 13, to a three-year youth rehabilitation order and an evening curfew. Kohli's family told the court in a victim impact statement they were haunted by how his attackers left him "on his own, helpless and in pain" just a short distance from his home. "Losing dad in these cruel, violent and deeply shocking circumstances feels like our hearts have been pulled apart," his daughter Susan Kohli said. The teenagers, who cannot be named because of their ages, were convicted of manslaughter in April following a six-week trial. The boy had also been charged with murder but was found not guilty on that count. Speaking outside Leicester Crown Court after the sentencing, Susan Kohli added that she was "angry and disappointed" by the leniency of the sentences. "I believe on that day the two teenagers made a choice. The teenage boy chose to attack my dad and the girl chose to film him being attacked. They knew what they were doing," she told reporters. "I feel angry and disappointed that the sentence they have both received today does not, I believe, reflect the severity of the crime they committed," she said. Agence France-Presse
Gulf Today
28-05-2025
- Gulf Today
Fatima Payman, hijab-wearing Australian lawmaker of Afghan origin, says she was urged to drink, 'dance on table'
A Muslim lawmaker in Australia said on Wednesday that she has complained to a parliamentary watchdog after a male colleague allegedly urged her to drink wine and "dance on the table". Senator Fatima Payman – who said she does not drink alcohol – claimed the older colleague made a series of inappropriate remarks after he "had too many drinks" at an official function. He said: "Let's get some wine into you and see you dance on the table," Payman, 30, told national broadcaster ABC. "I told this colleague, 'Hey I'm drawing a line mate', and moved on to making a formal complaint," she said. It was not clear when the alleged incident occurred or who the colleague was. Born in Afghanistan, Payman is the first senator to wear a hijab inside Australia's parliament, according to local media. Former political staffer Brittany Higgins in 2021 alleged she was raped by a colleague inside a parliamentary office, triggering protests across the country. A scathing review later found Australia's parliament was rife with heavy drinking, bullying and sexual harassment. Independent Senator Payman split from the left-leaning Labour government in 2024 after accusing it of failing to help Palestinians in Gaza. Agence France-Presse
Gulf Today
28-05-2025
- Gulf Today
Thief of famed Churchill photo sentenced to jail: Canadian media
A Canadian man who stole the famed portrait of a scowling Winston Churchill in a brazen international art heist was sentenced to jail Monday, according to local media. The "Roaring Lion" portrait of the late British prime minister had been gifted to the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa by the late Armenian-born Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh. Taken by Karsh after the wartime leader addressed the Canadian parliament in 1941, Churchill's scowl becoming a symbol of British defiance in World War II. In August 2022 hotel staff noticed the photograph, hanging in a reading room next to the main lobby, had been replaced with a forgery, and Ottawa police in 2024 announced they had found the culprit. According to Canada's public broadcaster CBC, the man, Jeffrey Wood, pleaded guilty to forgery, theft, and trafficking property obtained by crime in March. He was sentenced to jail for a duration of two years less a day on Monday at an Ottawa courthouse. CBC reported that Justice Robert Wadden told Wood that he was guilty of stealing a "cultural and historical" portrait that was a "point of national pride." In 2024, Ottawa police said that with the help of public tips and forensic sleuthing, they had found Wood living just west of Ottawa while the stolen portrait was in Italy. The portrait had been sold through an auction house in London to a buyer in Italy, both of whom were unaware it was stolen, police said then. It was returned to the hotel last September. The image is arguably the most recognized of Churchill and widely circulated, even appearing on the British five pound note. In an account posted on his official website, Karsh said making the portrait "changed my life." He had captured Churchill's churlish expression immediately after plucking a cigar out of the British leader's mouth. "By the time I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent he could have devoured me," Karsh said. "It was at that instant that I took the photograph." Agence France-Presse
