An overcrowded bus collided with a truck and caught fire early Saturday In BrazilThe fire department said more than 30 people were killed.
After all the victims were removed from a major highway near the town of Teofilo Otoni in Minas Gerais, the state fire department reported that of the 45 people on board the bus, 38 were confirmed dead, including the bus driver.
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The other passengers remained in critical condition after being taken to a local hospital.
The fire department said that the truck driver fled the scene, while three passengers in the car that collided with the truck and were trapped under it survived the accident.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva He stated on social media that the government was ready to provide any assistance required, and that the Federal Highway Policy was on site.
Brazil map. (Encyclopedia Britannica/World Image Collection via Getty Images)
“I am deeply saddened and offer my prayers to the families of more than 30 victims of the accident that occurred in Teofilo Otoni, Minas Gerais,” he said on the
The local fire department said a forensic investigation would be necessary to determine the cause of the accident, as different accounts were gathered from witness testimony.
Initially, firefighters reported the bus's tire had burst, causing the driver to lose control before it collided at around 4 a.m. local time with an oncoming truck on the BR-116 federal highway, a major road linking Brazil's densely populated southeast with the impoverished northeast. .
The fire department said that eyewitnesses also reported that a block of granite that the truck was transporting broke off and fell on the road, causing it to collide with the bus.
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“Only a forensic investigation will confirm the true story,” the fire department said in a statement.
The bus started from Sao Paulo He headed to the state of Bahia.
