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Two Buses, Car Collide in Brazil; 60 Killed

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United Press International

Two long-distance buses, one carrying religious pilgrims, crashed head-on in northern Brazil Sunday night, killing at least 60 people, police said Monday.

The dead included three people who were killed when their car crashed into the wrecked buses.

Police spokesman Silvio Bacaru said the crash occurred 10 miles outside Belo Horizonte, which is 220 miles north of Rio de Janeiro.

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He said 40 people died at the scene, 15 others died soon after at a hospital and five more died Monday. Ten others were hospitalized with serious injuries, Bacaru said.

One of the buses was carrying pilgrims from a religious festival in the town of Belo Vale and the other was packed with tourists from the town of Duque de Caxias, near Rio de Janeiro, authorities said.

One survivor interviewed on national television said the pilgrims’ bus was traveling at high speed when it swerved onto the wrong side of the highway, possibly because of a burst tire.

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