At least 38 people were killed in a “tragic” bus-truck crash in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, the Associated Press reported, citing fire officials at the scene. The death toll was initially put at 22.
A further 13 people were taken to a hospital near the city of Teofilo Otoni.
Authorities said a bus carrying 45 passengers had a flat tire, caused the driver to lose control and crashed into a truck as it left Sao Paulo.
Another car then collided with the bus, but all three passengers survived, the fire department said. According to Reuters, the accident occurred around 4 a.m. and the bus burst into flames.
Photos emerging from the scene show a truck sitting on top of the crushed car, its huge wheels embedded in the roof of a smaller car, and the Minas Gerais state fire department said the crash occurred on a highway. It was announced that it occurred on BR-116.
Photos showed twisted and charred metal strewn across the road, patterned bus seats torn from their moorings and passenger blankets tangled in the wreckage.
Uniformed workers were photographed at the scene and more victims of the crash were still being removed, an official told The Associated Press. Firefighters said a crane was needed to access parts of the bus where more casualties were expected.
Romeu Zema, the governor of Minas Gerais, told the said.
Zema said security forces had been working since the early hours to respond to the incident and had made aircraft from the governor’s military office available for rescue workers.
The governor said, “I would like to express my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.” “We are working to ensure that the families of the victims are welcomed on the eve of Christmas, an important day for everyone, so that they can face this tragedy in the most humane way possible. I’m here.”
According to data compiled by the United Nations, Brazil’s estimated road traffic death rate in 2021 is 15.7 per 100,000 people, which is much higher than, for example, Argentina’s 8.8 per 100,000 people.
The country has announced plans to halve the number of deaths on its road network by the end of 2010, with the Transport Ministry saying this will save 86,000 lives between 2021 and 2030.
In September, three people were killed when a bus transporting the Coritiba Crocodiles professional American football team to a game overturned.
