At least 50 killed in Guatemala as bus plunges off bridge

A bus plunged off a highway bridge and into a polluted ravine in Guatemala City early Monday, killing at least 51 people and trapping survivors, a spokesman for the city’s fire department said.

The overcrowded bus was en route to the capital from San Agustin Acasaguastlan along a busy route in the city when it fell about 20 meters (65 feet) from Puente Belice, an overpass that runs over a road and creek.

The spokesman, Carlos Hernandez, said the corpses of 36 men and 15 women had been transferred to a provincial morgue established to receive victims from the accident.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo announced three days of national mourning and mobilized the country’s army and disaster agency to aid response efforts.

“I stand with the families of the victims who woke up this morning to tragic news. Their pain is my pain,” Arevalo wrote on social media.