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17 killed, 35 injured in Honduras highway collision

Other News Materials 6 February 2017 03:33 (UTC +04:00)
At least 17 people were killed and another 35 were injured on Sunday when a passenger bus collided with a semitruck in southern Honduras
17 killed, 35 injured in Honduras highway collision

At least 17 people were killed and another 35 were injured on Sunday when a passenger bus collided with a semitruck in southern Honduras, Xinhua reported.

The crash along the highway connecting the capital Tegucigalpa with the southern part of the country "left at least 17 people dead and 35 injured on Sunday morning," the daily La Prensa said.

Fourteen of the fatal victims died at the site, and another three at the hospital.

Images of the crash site showed the truck had turned over on its side and pinned down the bus onto the highway after the two collided head on.

The public transit bus was reportedly carrying some 60 passengers, including the son of the mayor of San Miguelito, a town close to the crash site. He is among the fatal victims.

Video footage showed rescue workers placing the injured into ambulances, which transferred the wounded to the University School Hospital (HEU).

The daily Diez said, "reporters at the site of the accident said 'the scene is Dantesque,' and the interior of the bus 'full of corpses'."

Authorities have yet to determine the cause of the accident, but officials arrested the driver of the truck, who was reportedly speeding, and are holding him in safekeeping "to prevent him from being lynched by angry relatives," Diez added.

Relatives of the victims gathered outside the hospital awaiting news, with some of the injured survivors said to be in critical condition.

According to the Violence Watch at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, in the first half of 2016, traffic accidents were "the second cause of death" in the country.

The average death toll from such accidents stood at 117 per month, or four a day.

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