At least 13 people were killed and three injured on Friday when a truck and a bus collided on a highway in the Bolivian Andes, police said.

Initial investigations suggested the truck driver lost control and collided with the bus, though police were still probing the crash on the road linking Bolivia's capital La Paz with the city of Oruro.

Photographs on social media showed the bus, with a maximum capacity of 21, next to several bodies on the road.

"At the scene 13 people have been identified as having lost their lives," La Paz Transit Police chief Marco Cespedes told reporters.

He added that at least three people were injured and had been taken to a hospital in the city of El Alto, near La Paz.

According to government data, road accidents kill an average of 1,400 people every year in Bolivia, a country of about 12 million.

Most accidents are due to driver error or mechanical failures.

In July, 22 people died and 16 were injured in western Bolivia when a truck and bus collided head-on.

Source: BARRON'S 

BDST: 1405 HRS, DEC 21, 2024
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