LIMA, Peru (AP) — A packed bus with passengers crowded on the roof plunged off a cliff into a swollen river in Peru’s remote Amazon jungle, killing at least 11 people, a police spokesman said Sunday.
The vehicle’s driver dozed off while taking a sharp turn in the highway, sending the bus careening off the precipice and into the Perene River, 160 miles northeast of Lima, a police spokesman said.
About 24 people were injured in the accident Friday and 25 passengers were missing.
The river’s swift current dragged the bus for about 500 feet while survivors scrambled out windows and through a skylight in the bus’s roof.
Rescuers continued searching for survivors but say the river likely swept away many of the bodies.
The bus was returning to the jungle town of Satipo after a mudslide blocked its route to its destination, the highland city of Huancayo.