Peru is once again bereaved by a tragic road accident. At least 11 people have died in Puno, in the Peruvian Andes, on the border with Bolivia.
“Eleven people died and a child was injured after a minibus fell into a ravine,” a police official from Sandia, in the department of Puno, 1,200 km southeast of Lima, said on Monday.
Three teachers among the victims
The accident occurred on the night of Sunday to Monday, while the vehicle carrying more than 12 passengers was traveling from the town of Juliaca to Sandia. The victims included three teachers and the driver, according to police.
Road accidents are frequent in Peru due to excessive speed, the poor state of the roads and the lack of signage and controls. In 2023, 3,316 people died in more than 87,172 accidents, according to the Ministry of Transport.
Statistics that are improving
The efforts of the authorities have nevertheless made it possible to reduce the mortality rate linked to traffic accidents from 14 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2019, to 9.5 per 100,000 in 2023. It was 4.6 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022 in the European Union.
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