At least 38 die in bus accident in southeast Brazil
SAO PAULO—At least 38 people were killed in a bus crash in southeastern Brazil on Saturday, officials said, in what President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called a “terrible tragedy.”
The accident in Minas Gerais state, involving a bus that caught fire in the collision, was the worst on Brazil’s federal highways since 2007, the Federal Highway Police told AFP.
Civil police confirmed 38 fatalities with nine people hospitalized.
According to preliminary information, a block of granite “possibly” came off a truck traveling in the opposite direction, hitting the bus, the PRF said in a statement.
The truck driver fled the scene, firefighters said.
Firefighters had initially said the bus blew a tire at around 4:00 am, causing the driver to lose control and hit a truck. Another vehicle also hit the bus from behind, officials said.
Trapped
After the crash, the bus, which had been making its way from Sao Paulo to Vitoria da Conquista, in the northeastern Bahia state, caught fire.
The death toll crept upward throughout the day, with a spokesperson for the local fire department earlier telling AFP that “it was not yet possible to specify the exact number due to the state of the bodies.”
Some of the victims had been trapped inside, said the fire department, which removed charred remains from the wreckage.
