At least 37 people were killed and 70 injured in a collision involving three buses and a truck in central Peru on Monday, authorities said. The accident occurred around 4:30pm on the Pan American Highway near the city of Huarmey, Ancash Region, about 300 km north of the capital Lima.Orfiles Bravo, the head of highway police, told RPP radio that one of the buses belonging to the Murga Serrano line swerved into oncoming traffic on the highway and was then hit by the truck and two other buses, Xinhua reported.The Murga Serrano bus was split into two, he added.Bodies were laid on the pavement and two helicopters and rescuers were on site, media reports said. Six critically injured people were transported by helicopter to a hospital in Lima.According to the fire department, the local hospital in Huarmey was not big enough to accommodate so many injured and they had to convert other health centres in the area for the wounded.Ana Jara, head of the council of ministers, said on Twitter that more ambulances would be deployed to the crash site.According to the World Health Organisation, Peru’s traffic accident death rates are at the highest level in the world. Over 1,400 people were killed in road accidents in the first half of 2014.
