GUATEMALA CITY — An intermunicipal bus veered off a road in Guatemala and fell into a deep ravine, killing 15 passengers and injuring at least 15 others, authorities said Saturday. The government declared three days of national mourning.
The accident happened Friday night outside the town of Totonicapán along a route known as the Inter-American Highway. Officials said it took rescue workers more than two hours to recover the bodies from the crash site and rescue injured passengers. Fifteen people were still being treated for injuries at hospitals.
“I profoundly regret the tragedy which happened along the Interamerican Route,” President Bernardo Arevalo said in a social media statement. “We are coordinating all necessary actions to assist those who have been affected.”
Traffic accidents are common in Guatemala, a mountainous country where transportation regulations are loosely enforced and where many towns and cities are connected by narrow, two-lane roads.
In October, the National Transportation Safety Observatory, a government agency, said that 446 public transportation vehicles in the country had been involved in crashes this year. Through October, those resulted in 111 deaths and more than 600 people injured.
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