Over dozen killed, scores injured after bus plunges off a 45-foot-high bridge

At least 16 people have lost their lives and 27 were injured in a horrible road accident after a bus collided with a tractor-trailer, seesawed and then plunged off a 45-foot-high bridge in Brazil.

The horrible incident took place on the BR-381 highway on Friday approximately at 1.30 pm when the bus travelling from João Monlevade city of Brazil’s the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

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Reports said that after colliding with the truck, the bus veered off the lane and left teetering on the bridge near the damaged concrete guard rail and later fell off.

 

 

According to preliminary reports from Federal Highway Patrol, the driver abandoned the bus with the passengers inside.

Motorists at the scene said the bus driver attempted to put the coach in reverse, according to Brazilian news outlet G1. Some witnesses said that at least four people left the bus moment before it plunged 45 feet to the railroad track below, Dailymail UK reported.

The video posted by motorists showed that the bus wreckage in flames while firefighters canvassed the area looking for survivors.

At least three of the injured passengers, including two children, were airlifted and taken João XXIII Emergency Hospital, in Belo Horizonte, and listed in critical condition.

The accident is the second deadly crash in a week in Brazil after a collision between a bus and a truck killed 42 people in Taguaí, São Paulo, last Wednesday.