LIMA, Sept 1, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Thirty-two passengers died, including two
children, and more than 20 were injured when a bus plummeted from a cliff in
Peru early Tuesday, officials said, in the country's third multiple-victim
transport accident in four days.

  The accident happened on a narrow stretch of the Carretera Central road
some 37 miles (60 kilometers) east of the capital Lima.

   "Unfortunately, at the moment, there are 32 dead," said police commander
Cesar Cervantes.

  A six-year-old boy and three-year-old girl were among the dead, police
said.

  There had been 63 passengers on the bus.

   A search and rescue effort was under way for possible survivors and to
recover bodies, the police department added on Twitter.

  Cervantes said "recklessness" contributed to Tuesday's accident, adding
that the bus had been traveling "at high speed."

  It hit a rock and plunged into an abyss some 650 feet (200 meters) deep,
according to survivor accounts.

  On Sunday, 22 people died when two boats collided on the Amazon river in
Peru. An undetermined number remain missing.

  Two days earlier, another bus fell into a ravine in the country's
southeast, killing 17 people.

  Road accidents are common in the Andean country due to factors including
speeding motorists, poorly maintained highways, a lack of road signs and poor
traffic safety enforcement.