The bus was carrying 42 people toward Santuario de las Lajas, a popular tourist destination in Ipiales, in Nariño, Colombia. It never got there.
Early on January 3, on the Pan-American Highway near Pasto, the bus swerved off the road and dropped into a gorge. Twelve people died and at least 30 were hurt. The vehicle landed on its side and crumpled. The depth of the fall differs by account: Wide Open Spaces put it at 160 feet, while Haberler, citing NTN24, reported a 50-meter ravine.
The crash happened at kilometer 49 of the Pasto-Rumichaca highway, a stretch with sharp turns. First responders took the injured to hospitals in Tangua, Ipiales and Pasto.
Cause still open
Authorities have not settled on a cause. The leading theory is mechanical failure. Wide Open Spaces said the bus had handled the road’s twisting bends without trouble before it left the road. Colombian Traffic Police are working to establish the ages and identities of those involved, and the names of the dead and injured had not been released.
Transport Minister María Constanza García Alicastro responded on social media. “My deepest condolences to the families affected by this tragedy and I express my full solidarity on behalf of the national government in these difficult times,” she wrote.
A hard stretch for road travel
Wide Open Spaces placed the crash alongside other recent disasters. Last month, a truck carrying a wedding party plunged off a bridge into a river in Ethiopia, killing 71 people. In November a bus carrying more than 60 people went off a cliff in India, and 36 died. After that crash, Uttarakhand official Deepak Rawat said that “relief and rescue efforts must be carried out quickly.”
Sources
- Bus Plunges Off 160 Foot Gorge Killing 12 People And Injuring 30
- The tourist bus plunged into a ravine: 12 passengers lost their lives.
