Bus crash that kills at least 20 people in Colombia

At least 20 people have died in a bus accident in Colombia. According to the police, 14 others were injured. Pictures on Colombian television showed how the bus overturned in the early hours of the morning (local time) on the famous Panamericana expressway in the southwest of the Latin American country between Pasto and Cali. According to the authorities, the cause may have been a brake defect.

Local media reported that the vehicle nearly fell down a mountainside but then came to a stop on an obstacle. The rescue work lasted nine hours. The bus was on its way from the port city of Tumaco to Cali, and according to press reports there was also fog at the time of the accident.

Serious traffic accidents are more common on the narrow, sometimes unpaved, mountain roads in the Andean regions of South American countries. The road conditions are often difficult and the buses are not always in good condition.