LIMA: At least 22 people were killed and another 27 were injured early Tuesday when a bus overturned on a road in northern Peru and rolled into a 200-meter (yard) deep ravine, an official said.

The bus, which belonged to the Karungo bus company, was carrying more than 50 passengers from the Andean district of Sayapullo to the coastal northern city of Trujillo.

"The accident was very serious because the bus turned over and fell into a ravine that was approximately 200 meters deep," Raquel Hernandez, a local health official, told AFP. "The accident left 22 dead and 27 injured."

Those injured in the accident, including five children, were transferred to hospitals in Sayapullo and Gran Chimu.

Fatal road traffic accidents are common on the narrow, mountainous roads in Peru and Bolivia. Tuesday`s accident was the fourth of its kind this year in Peru.
Drivers in the country often overcrowd their vehicles with passengers, driving too fast in cars that are frequently in poor condition.

Peru has one of the highest rates of fatal road traffic accidents in Latin America, with nearly 3,500 fatalities a year in the last decade according to a 2009 report by Peru`s Center for Ground Transportation Research.

BDST: 9:25 HRS, August 11, 2010