Bolivian bus crash leaves at least 17 people dead

Two buses have crashed on a road in Bolivia’s highlands, leaving at least 17 people dead and ten injured.

Police said passengers were trapped in the wreckage of the buses, which collided on Saturday in the Andes near the town of Achacachi, about 50 miles west of the capital, La Paz.

A police report said the accident was caused by excessive speed and did not rule out that one bus had crossed into the lane of the other.

“Firefighters reached the scene to see what had happened. The people were trapped in the vehicles,” Colonel Pablo Garcia, direct of transit in El Alto, said.

Deadly bus accidents are common in Bolivia’s highlands, where narrow roads sometimes wind through mountain ranges near steep precipices.