LIMA, Peru — Two buses crashed head-on Thursday on a mountain road near Lake Titicaca in Peru, killing at least 23 people and injuring 50 more, police said.
The morning crash occurred in the Santa Lucia district, about an hour's drive from Lake Titicaca high in the Andes, a Puno state highway police officer told The Associated Press by phone.
The officer requested anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the crash.
Emergency crews said there could be as many as fourmore people still trapped in the wreckage, the officer said. Fourteen of the dead were identified, all of them Peruvians.
The buses belonged to the Julsa and Destinos transport companies, which operate daily interstate buses in the remote southeastern part of Peru.
Deadly bus crashes are common in Peru, where domestic routes are loosely regulated and highways are poorly maintained.
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July 03, 2009 12:35 AM EDT
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