A accident between a passenger bus and a truck killed 38 people Saturday morning on a highway in Minas Gerais, a state in the southeast of the country. Brazilofficials said.
Minas Gerais firefighters, who responded to the scene, said 13 other people were taken to hospitals near the town of Teofilo Otoni. The bus would have left from Sao Paulo and carried 45 passengers.
Authorities said Saturday afternoon that all victims had been evacuated from the site and that an investigation would determine the cause of the accident. Witnesses told rescue crews the bus blew a tire, causing the driver to lose control and collide with a truck. Others said a granite block had hit the bus, firefighters added.
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A car with three passengers also collided with the bus, but all three survived.
Governor Romeu Zema wrote on X that he had ordered the “full mobilization” of the Minas Gerais government to help the victims.
“We are working to ensure that the families of the victims receive support to deal with this tragedy in the most humane way possible, especially as it comes just before Christmas,” Zema said.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in a statement on Saturday that federal officials were available to the state of Minas Gerais. “I deeply regret and send my prayers to the families of the more than 30 deaths following the accident in Teófilo Otoni, Minas Gerais. I pray for the recovery of the survivors of this terrible tragedy,” Lula said.
In 2024, more than 10,000 people will die in road accidents in Brazil, according to the Ministry of Transport.
In September, a bus carrying a football team run over on a road and killed three people. The Coritiba Crocodiles, a team from Curitiba in southern Brazil, were traveling to a match in Rio de Janeiro, where they were scheduled to compete in the country’s American football championship. The match was canceled following the fatal accident.
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