Bus plunge kills 52, including 13 children

LIMA, Peru -- A makeshift bus carrying 52 Quechua Indians back from a party in rural Peru plunged off a cliff into a river southeast of the capital Lima, killing all passengers, including 13 children.

The accident occurred Friday night as the red-and-yellow cargo truck made its way back from a party in the provincial capital of Santa Teresa. It fell about 650 feet into the chasm.

Rescuers equipped with little more than flashlights spent the night searching the ravine for survivors amid the twisted steel and large boulders. Authorities said bodies were found as far as 330 feet from the impact site. There were no survivors.

Authorities haven't determined the cause of the accident, and firefighter Capt. David Taboada said the bus was returning from a party celebrating Santa Teresa's founding. Fedia Castro, mayor of the district where Santa Teresa is, said rural farmers rely on informal forms of transport because no public buses exist in the area.

The high-altitude roads of the Andes are notorious for bus plunges, with poor farmers comprising many of the victims. Last year, more than 4,000 people were killed in such accidents.