Horror bus crash leaves at least 18 dead as rescue mission mounted

At least 18 people have been killed in a bus crash after a double-decker plunged over 160ft into a ravine.

The packed vehicle travelling from Lima, Peru, to the country's Amazon area overturned after it veered off a winding road, with another 48 passengers injured, on Friday. Officials revealed that 15 of the passengers were found dead at the horror scene while three more people died in hospital. A desperate rescue mission was mounted after the horror crash in an attempt to save as many lives as possible.

Officials tragically confirmed that two children were among the dead, when the bus plunged off a highway and landed on it's roof in Peru's Junin region. The bus, owned by Expreso Molina Líder Internacional, was carrying more than 60 people at the time of the crash.

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A health official from the city of Tarma in central Peru, Aldo Tineo, said authorities were in the process of identifying the dead bodies and identifying the cause of the fatal incident.

Footage shown on local TV showed the double-decker had split into two upon impact with shattered glass and broken windows across the horror site. Both firefighters and police tried to rescue victims from the wreckage.

Peru unfortunately has a tragic past with other deadly crashes from it's winding roads. At least eight members of the same orchestra group died when their bus plunged off a road and into a ravine, in July 2024.

The group were travelling from the city of Oxapampa to the Peruvian capital of Lima when the accident occurred close to the city of Tarma. Nine people died and 12 more were injured in the accident.

The victims included eight members of the 20-man Antolog a del Folklore orchestra and the coach driver. The music group had finished a gig the night before and were on their way to their next show when the tragedy struck. The vehicle reportedly plunged down a 200m (656 ft) ravine.

Omar Valdivia, speaking to local media at the time, said: "A car suddenly moved into the driver's lane and to avoid crashing into it, the driver had to steer slightly, which caused the bus to go off the edge."

A British tourist was among the dead when a coach crashed in Peru, in October 2023. The holidaymakers, many of them foreign nationals, were on their way to a popular destination called the Mountain of Seven Colours in the Peruvian Andes.

The Brit, aged 32, died and more than 20 people were left injured when the vehicle came off the road and rolled over several times before ending up on its side. The 32-year-old died after he became trapped under the crashed vehicle, officials confirmed.