LIMA, Nov 25, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Eleven people are dead after a bus full of
students, teachers and parents plunged off a cliffside road in Peru,
authorities said Sunday.

According to Peru's Andina news agency, the bus -- carrying 57 people --
collided head on with a van before veering off the road on Saturday.

"We have 11 deceased as a result of the accident. Among them, there are five
17-year-old schoolchildren and a two-year-old child," Jorge Sanchez, director
of the regional directorate of San Martin, told AFP.

Authorities said 18 people were injured.

The bus was carrying a group of schoolchildren, their families and teachers
from the town of Piura, in the country's north, to the Amazonian department
of San Martin.

It crashed while driving along a road in the province of Moyobamba, in the
San Marin region.

According to local media, the crash occurred while the high school students
were on a class trip.

The Andean country has a high incidence of bus accidents, with 3,138 deaths
recorded in traffic accidents in 2023, according to the Ministry of Transport
and Communications.