Handout picture released by Ecu911 relief organisation on December 7, 2024 showing the site of the bus crash which left at least 16 people dead and eight others injured, in the road linking the Andean cities of Loja and Catamayo, in Loja province, Ecuador-Peru, on December 6, 2024. (Photo by Handout / ECU911 / AFP)
Quito: A bus collided with a car in southern Ecuador, killing at least 18 people and injuring eight others, rescue officials said Saturday.
The accident took place Friday in Ecuador's Loja province bordering Peru.
The prosecutor's office raised the death toll from an initial 16 to 18.
The bus collided with a car traveling in the opposite direction and overturned, according to local media.
The governor of Loja, Alexandra Jara, expressed her "deep solidarity with the families affected by this unfortunate event."
Traffic accidents are among the main causes of death in Ecuador.
The country saw almost 21,000 accidents in 2023, with nearly 2,400 people killed, according to official figures.
In the first five months of 2024, 848 deaths resulted from the more than 8,400 accidents recorded.
In September, a bus carrying 35 Indigenous people overturned on the outskirts of capital Quito, leaving nine dead.
