LA PAZ: A passenger bus plunged into an 800-meter-deep abyss in southern Bolivia on Monday, killing at least 30 people and injuring 15, police and local media said.
The bodies of “at least 30” people have been recovered and transported to morgues after the accident near the town of Yocalla, police colonel Victor Benavides told AFP.
The accident happened on a narrow two-way road between the cities of Potosi and Oruro, with the route running along a ravine nearly half a mile deep.
Local news outlet Unitel reported at least 15 people injured in the crash — including three children — had been transferred to hospital.
Several were in a serious condition.
It was not immediately clear how many people were on board the bus.
Authorities said their initial theory was that the crash was caused by speeding, with the driver “unable” to control the bus, according to Benavides.
This is the most serious road accident reported in the South American country so far this year.
Nineteen people were killed when another bus careened off a road, also near Potosi, last month.
Bolivia’s winding mountain roads are notoriously deadly.
Road accidents kill an average of 1,400 people every year in the country of about 12 million inhabitants, according to government data.
At least 30 killed after Bolivia bus plunges into ravine
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At least 30 killed after Bolivia bus plunges into ravine
California joins UN health network following US departure from WHO
- California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the United States’ move on Friday, calling it a “reckless decision” that will hurt many people
CALIFORNIA: California said on Friday it will become the first US state to join the World Health Organization’s global outbreak response network following the Trump administration’s decision to pull Washington out of the WHO.
The network, comprised of more than 360 technical institutions, responds to public health events with the deployment of staff and resources to affected countries. It has tackled major public health events, including COVID-19. The state’s decision to join the network comes more than a year after US President Donald Trump gave notice that Washington would depart from the WHO. On Thursday, it officially withdrew from the agency, saying its decision reflected failures in the UN health agency’s management of the pandemic.
California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the United States’ move on Friday, calling it a “reckless decision” that will hurt many people.
“California will not bear witness to the chaos this decision will bring,” Newsom said in a statement. “We will continue to foster partnerships across the globe and remain at the forefront of public health preparedness, including through our membership as the only state in WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network.”
The governor’s office said he met with the WHO’s Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, where they discussed collaborating to detect and respond to emerging public health threats.
The WHO did not immediately respond when reached for comment.
