On December 21, 2024, a tragic accident occurred on a highway in Minas Gerais, Brazil. A bus carrying passengers collided with a truck and caught fire in the early hours of Saturday, resulting in the death of 30 people.
At 4 a.m., the bus, which was carrying 45 passengers, experienced a tire blowout causing the driver to lose control. The bus crashed head-on into a truck loaded with tiles near Teofilo Otoni, Minas Gerais.
Firefighters managed to rescue 13 passengers from the wreckage of the bus and transported them to a nearby hospital in Teofilo Otoni. Three passengers who were also involved in the collision and trapped under the truck managed to survive the accident.
Authorities confirmed that all the deceased had been removed from the scene, and an investigation will be carried out to determine the cause of the accident. According to witnesses, the bus had a tire blowout which led to the driver losing control and colliding with the truck. Some reports mentioned that a granite stone hit the bus.
Firefighter Alonso Vieira Junior stated in a video released by the fire department earlier that “22 bodies have been recovered from the bus, and more victims are yet to be removed.”
He mentioned the need for a crane to access another part of the bus where more victims were located.
Governor Romeu Zema of Minas Gerais expressed his condolences on social media and stated that the state government is fully mobilized to aid the victims. He emphasized the importance of supporting the families of the deceased in the most humane way possible, especially during the eve of Christmas.
In 2024, Brazil has already recorded over 10,000 fatalities in traffic accidents according to the statistics from the Brazilian Ministry of Transport.
In September, a bus carrying the Coritiba Crocodiles football team overturned on the road, resulting in the death of three people. The team from the southern city of Curitiba was en route to Rio de Janeiro to participate in a national American football championship. The tournament was subsequently canceled following the tragic accident.
(Adapted from Reuters reporting)