Bus accident leaves 15 dead in Guatemala and government declares 3-day national mourning period
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AP) — An intermunicipal bus went off the road Guatemala Authorities announced on Saturday that the plane crashed into a deep valley, killing 15 passengers and injuring at least 15 others, and declared three days of national mourning.
The crash happened Friday night on a route known as the Interamerican Trail outside the town of Totonicapan. It took rescuers more than two hours to remove bodies from the crash site and save injured passengers, officials said. 15 people were still being treated in local hospitals for injuries.
“I deeply regret the tragedy along the Inter-American Route,” President Bernardo Arevalo said in a statement on social media. “We are coordinating all necessary actions to assist those affected.”
Traffic accidents are common in Guatemala, a mountainous country where transportation regulations are loosely enforced and many towns and cities are connected by narrow, two-lane roads.
In October, the National Transportation Safety Observatory, a government agency, said 446 public transportation vehicles in the country would be involved in crashes by 2025. These accidents resulted in 111 deaths and more than 600 injuries by October.
