A bus carrying tourists from a cruise ship plunged more than 100m into a mountain ravine in northern Chile, killing 12 US citizens and seriously injuring two others, officials said.
The Chilean bus driver and a guide were also injured in Wednesday's accident along a rugged highway near the Pacific port city of Arica, 2,000km north of Santiago.
The identities of the victims were not immediately released.
PHOTO: AP
The tourists were returning to their Bahamas-registered Millennium cruise ship after visiting the nearby Lauca National Park. The driver lost control of the vehicle trying to avoid an oncoming truck that had just rounded a curve, according to Juan Pablo Poli, a spokesman for the city of Arica.
Poli said two Americans were in a serious condition at a local hospital. A third injured American died, raising the death toll to 12.
"We have confirmed that all the victims were American citizens," he said. "Autopsies will be conducted during the night so the bodies can be sent home as soon as possible, probably by air from Santiago."
He said the bus had a capacity of 16 passengers and "was totally destroyed as it fell more than 100m."
The accident took place 42km northeast of Arica on the mountain road connecting the coast with the Bolivian capital of La Paz.
US embassy spokesman John Vance, who also confirmed the 12 US deaths, said the embassy was sending consular officers to Arica.
The Millennium was docked in Arica, and the cruise line said the ship would remain there until further notice. It had been scheduled to leave for Peru early yesterday. The ship was carrying approximately 1,500 guests and 920 crew.
The cruise line said it was flying family members of victims to Chile and sending a special assistance team to the ship to help its guests and crew.
"We continue to work with Chilean authorities and the US consulate in Santiago to assist our injured guests and the family members of those who died in this tragic accident," said Dan Hanrahan, president of Celebrity Cruises.
The ship is on a 14-night South American cruise. It departed Valparaiso, Chile, on Sunday and is scheduled to conclude in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on April 2.
Celebrity Cruises said the private tour was not affiliated with the cruise line.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS