Skip to main content

17 Killed, Several Injured As Bus Crashes Into Ravine In Brazil

Seventeen people died Sunday when a bus on a remote mountain road in Brazil's northeastern Alagoas state dived into a ravine, regional authorities said.

Police were working to identify those killed and to free bodies from the wreckage of the bus, which fell into a ravine more than 20 meters (65 feet) deep, the state government said in a statement.

It said "several" people were injured. 

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on the social media platform X that his government "will give all necessary support to state authorities in the assistance, care and support of the victims."

He expressed condolences to the families of those involved in the accident.

Alagoas state governor Paulo Dantas declared on X three days of mourning over the "tragedy."

The bus was reported to have been carrying some 40 people up a mountain road to a historical site near the town of Uniao dos Palmares when the driver lost control, apparently after a mechanical failure.

The bus went off the road in an area difficult to access, near a site in the Serra da Barriga mountain range that has historical importance to Brazilians.

In the 17th century there was a settlement there that was part of the Quilombo dos Palmares, a remote community set up by escaped slaves which ended up being crushed by Brazil's Portuguese colonial masters.

November is the month Brazil celebrates "Black Awareness," with a public holiday on November 20 -- the anniversary of the death of Zumbi, the most prominent leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares.

Brazil's racial equality minister, Anielle Franco, said on X she was "hit hard" by news of the accident, adding "this tragedy saddens us even more deeply" given the Black Awareness events held in the region.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)



from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/vjzVJql

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

UK In 'Diplomatic Contact' With Syrian Rebels After Bashar Al-Assad's Ouster

Britain's foreign minister said Sunday that London had established diplomatic contact with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group in Syria, which led the offensive that ousted Bashar al-Assad. They remain "a proscribed terrorist organisation, but we can have diplomatic contact and so we do have diplomatic contact, as you would expect", said Foreign Secretary David Lammy. "We want to see a representative government, an inclusive government. We want to see chemical weapons stockpiles secured, and not used, and we want to ensure that there is not continuing violence," he added. "So, for all of those reasons, using all the channels that we have available, and those are diplomatic and of course intelligence-led channels, we seek to deal with HTS where we have to." (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/ybLIfjx

US Has Agreed To Send More Bombs, Warplanes To Israel: Report

The US in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah. The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post. Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military assistance to Israel, its longtime ally. The package comes as Israel faces strong international criticism over its continued bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza and as some members of President Joe Biden's party call for him to cut US military aid. The United States has been rushing air defenses and munitions to Israel, but some Democrats and Arab American groups have criticized the Biden administration's steadfast support of Israel, which they say provides it with a sense of impunity. Bid...

UK-Born Italian Teen To Become Catholic Church's First Millennial Saint

A London-born Italian teenager who spent his short life spreading the faith online will become the Catholic Church's first millennial saint, after the Vatican attributed to him a second miracle. Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia in 2006 aged 15, was beatified four years ago after the Vatican ruled he had miraculously saved another boy's life. He will now become a saint after Pope Francis approved another miraculous act, an intercession on behalf of a young woman in Florence who suffered severe head trauma in July 2022. Carlo was born in London on May 3, 1991, to Italian parents, and moved with them to Milan as a young boy, where he grew up with a huge interest in computers. "He was considered a computer genius... But what did he do? He didn't use these media to chat and have fun," his mother Antonia Salzano said in an interview with Vatican News at the time of his 2020 beatification. Instead, "his zeal for the Lord" drove him to make a website on ...