Bus crash in Ecuador leaves at least 24 dead, 19 injured

At least 24 people were killed and another 19 injured when a bus careened into another vehicle at high speed and overturned on a highway near Ecuador’s capital Tuesday, officials reported.

The Colombian-registered bus was traveling to Quito when it hit a smaller vehicle in an area known as dead man’s curve at about 3 a.m., Ecuadorean authorities said.

Col. Wilson Pavon, the head of Ecuador’s transit police, said the majority of the passengers were Colombians, but that Venezuelans were also among the dead. Two children in the smaller vehicle were also killed.

A small fleet of ambulances and first responders rushed to the crash site about two hours from Quito before dawn. They found the heavily damaged bus on its side and several homes adjacent to the highway damaged and strewn with metal debris.

It was the second highway tragedy in three days in Ecuador.

On Sunday, 12 people were killed and another 30 injured when a bus carrying fans of the Ecuadorean soccer team Barcelona SC overturned on a highway after a game. Police were still investigating that crash.

UPDATES:

7:50 a.m.: This article was updated with revised casualty tolls and information about another bus crash Sunday.

This article was originally published at 6:40 a.m.