On Monday, February 10th, in Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala, a bus crashed through the guardrail of a highway and plunged into a polluted ravine on the side of the road, resulting in at least 56 deaths and multiple injuries. Currently, there are still passengers trapped in the wreckage of the bus.
According to media reports, the accident occurred early on Monday when the bus, carrying about 70 people, was traveling from San Agustin Acasaguastlan in the El Progreso province to Guatemala City. It lost control and fell from a height of about 20 meters off the Belice Bridge into the valley below.
After the incident, rescue teams quickly arrived at the scene to transport the injured to hospitals for treatment, but some passengers remained trapped in the submerged wreckage of the bus.
Images shared by the Guatemala City Fire Department on social media show half of the bus submerged in sewage, with bodies of the victims scattered around.
The department’s spokesperson, Carlos Hernandez, confirmed to CBS News that besides the 52 dead at the scene, another 4 people died after being taken to the hospital. The bodies found at the scene have been taken to a temporary morgue set up specifically for this accident.
President of Guatemala, Bernardo Arevalo, later announced on social media that the day will be observed as a national day of mourning and the mourning will continue for three days. He stated, “Today is a difficult day for the nation of Guatemala.”
Local fire department officials reported that the accident was primarily caused by the bus colliding with several small vehicles, leading to the bus losing control.
Spokesperson Hernandez told reporters, “The bus continued forward after losing control, crashed through the metal guardrail, and fell upside down into a deep ravine about 20 meters deep, with half of the bus submerged in dirty river water.”
Footage from the scene shows the bodies of victims being recovered from the murky, trash-infested water and firefighters and police lining up to carry the bodies up the slope on stretchers.
Firefighter Luis Quintanilla stated, “Our rescue efforts were very challenging. We spent over three hours underwater trying to extract the body of a man trapped in the twisted wreckage.”
The cause of the accident is currently unclear, and investigators are looking into whether the bus was overloaded with passengers.