Road accident leaves 16 dead, 27 injured in Bolivia

Jan 12, 2009, 15:52 GMT

La Paz - Sixteen people died and 27 were injured in a bus accident in Bolivia's coca leaf-growing region, police said Monday.

The accident took place Sunday, when the bus carrying 43 people fell down a 200-metre ravine in the town of Pasto Pata, on the so- called Death Road. Two of the injured were in serious condition.

The road links La Paz, 3,600 metres above sea level, to the Yungas region, 800-1,500 metres above sea level. It generally runs parallel to the depressions opened by rivers as they descend towards the Amazon River, linking hundreds of rural villages.

The bus had left the town of La Asuntan and was carrying coca leaf producers to a specialist congress that was set to take place Monday.

The bus driver survived the accident, the police said, although he suffered cuts and bruises.

Eyewitnesses said it was not raining and the road was not at its narrowest, so the main hypothesis about the accident pointed to a mechanical failure.

Last week, an accident left four dead and 17 injured in the same region, while another bus accident left 44 people injured at the beginning of the year.

At the end of last year, two buses crashed in the Andean road La Paz-Oruro, leaving 13 dead and 43 injured.