On Monday, February 17, after a driver lost control of his vehicle, a passenger bus plunged down an 800-meter (2625 ft) ravine, killing at least 28 people as a result at the Yocalla Municipality in Potosí, Bolivia. At least 20 people were injured and transferred to a local hospital.
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According to local police, and reported by Infobae, the bus, managed by bus company San José, was traveling from Potosí to Oruro. The tragic accident occurred near Yocalla, approximately 193 miles from its destination. Limberth Choque, a Potosí Police Department spokesman, detailed that the road where the accident took place was steeply sloped with sharp curves. It is believed that the bus was driving at high speed, which prompted the driver to lose control of the bus.
Police reports confirm that the deceased were 19 men, six women, and three children. The bodies were transported to Potosí Public Hospital's morgue. Initially, it was reported that 31 people were killed and 15 were injured. However, as the bodies were being retrieved from the scene, the numbers were readjusted.
The 20 injured were transported to local hospitals. Infobae reports that four children are currently in serious condition, having suffered multiple fractures. The injured adults, meanwhile, suffered abdominal and bone lesions.
Fatal Road Accidents
According to the BBC, this is the deadliest road accident reported in Bolivia in 2025. In January, 19 people were killed after a bus overturned in Cerdas, Potosí. The dead included 14 women and two children. On average, 1,400 people are killed in road accidents in Bolivia.
Sadly, this is not the first major accident that has happened in February involving a bus. Just a week before the Bolivia bus accident, 56 people in Guatemala were killed after a bus plunged off a bridge. The bus landed at a ravine polluted with sewage water after falling 115 feet. As a result, 52 people died at the scene and four others succumbed to their injuries at local hospitals.
Just two days before, on February 8, a bus collided with a truck in Campeche Mexico. This caused the tragic deaths of 41 people, with the bus bursting into flames after the initial fatal crash.
