Bolivia Bus Crash Kills 18, Injures 37

La Paz, June - A bus carrying student athletes from rural Bolivia to a sporting event in the capital of La Paz plummeted into a 150 meter-deep ravine late Thursday, killing 18 and injuring 37 others, capital transit police chief Victorino Torrez said Friday. The students, aged 14 to 18, were accompanied by a teacher, who also died in the crash, Torrez told reporters at a press conference. He added the number of fatalities could rise as rescuers continued searching through the wreckage. "Rescuing the bodies and the injured was arduous," said Torrez, adding emergency teams had worked until midnight Thursday and were "doing a final search to see if they can find another body," on Friday. The accident occurred on a treacherous stretch of highway north of La Paz known as "death road" for the high number of vehicle- related fatalities that occur there, and this latest tragedy sparked the anger of local authorities and residents. Hernan Justo Centeno, mayor of the town of Chulumani, demanded that the state highway administration repair the highways and consolidate its transit projects in the region. "We cannot continue to lament these fatalities," said Centeno. "We demand the attention of the government to improve these roadways where accidents always occur with dozens of dead and injured." The students were scheduled to take part in a state-sponsored inter-school sporting event. Witnesses and relatives said the bus plummeted off the road while it "was speeding to pass another vehicle." (*)