AT least 17 people have died in a horrifying bus crash in Brazil, while numerous others have been left seriously injured.
The tragic smash happened overnight on the BR-423 between Paranatema and Saloa, in the north-east Brazilian state of Pernambuco.
Some of the injured passengers sustained serious injuries and were rushed to hospital.
Police say the bus was carrying more than 30 passengers when one of the two drivers on the journey swerved into oncoming traffic and hit rocks on the side of the road.
It is believed the driver then managed to steer the vehicle back into the correct lane before colliding with a sand embankment and flipping.
Terrifying pictures of the aftermath show the bus on its side with its windows completely shattered.
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Police and ambulance had sirens and lights blasting when units raced to the scene, as survivors sat on the road in a state of shock.
The cause of the crash is under investigation. The driver suffered minor injuries and tested negative for alcohol, police said.
He told police that he lost control of his vehicle because of a brake failure.
Police Chief Luciano Holanda described the vehicle as a “tourist bus”.
He said the bus had been hired for a specific trip.
Some of the passengers were thrown from the vehicle as it overturned because they weren’t wearing seat belts.
The bus had been returning from Brumado in the interior state of Bahia from Santa Cruz do Capibaribe in Pernambuco’s Agreste region when the accident unfolded.
The passengers had been returning to Capibaribe in Pernambuco’s Agreste region.
Bahia Gov. Jernimo Teixeira said on X that his administration was supporting rescue efforts and the identification of victims.
“I am following the situation with my team and deeply mourn the loss of lives, the injuries and the suffering of all the families”, he wrote.
The crash comes after another traffic smash saw more than 50 people die in February.
The bus veered off a bridge and into a ravine in Guatemala City.
In neighbouring Peru, a British tourist died in 2020 and nearly 30 other holiday-makers were injured in a coach crash in Peru.
The man killed was 39-year-old Nicholas Charles Newman and he was reportedly crushed under the vehicle as it came off the road and into a ditch before rolling several times, at last landing onto its side.
The 28 people injured included one British national – a 35-year-old woman.
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The travellers had been on their way back from a popular tourist destination called Mountain of Seven Colours and the Peruvian Andes when the chaos occurred.
The tragedy happened near the locality of Tintinco in the district of Cusitapa while on the way to a leading picture-postcard destination – Vinicunca or Rainbow Mountain.
