At least 36 dead in Peru bus crash

At least 36 people have been killed after a doubledecker bus veered off a road and fell 650ft down a cliff in southern Peru.

Highway police chief Jorge Castillo said the death toll could rise. Police say at least 34 other people were injured.

The accident took place before dawn yesterday near the province of Camana. The cause was not immediately known, but crashes 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.