In a heartbreaking accident early Saturday morning, at least 37 people lost their lives and dozens more were seriously injured in a devastating head-on collision between two buses on the route connecting Uyuni and Colchani, in Bolivia’s western Potosí region.
According to the Departmental Police Command of Potosí, emergency responders rushed 39 wounded passengers to four hospitals in Uyuni, where they are receiving urgent medical care.
Rescue teams faced a grim scene, using cranes to flip one of the buses that had overturned onto its side, in order to recover the bodies trapped inside. The crash left both vehicles mangled beyond recognition, with survivors and rescuers enduring hours of painstaking efforts amid the wreckage.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the tragedy may have been caused by one of the buses veering into the opposite lane, potentially due to excessive speed. Authorities are continuing their work to identify the victims and piece together the full circumstances of the crash.
The community remains shaken, as families grieve the sudden loss of loved ones. Local officials are urgently calling for enhanced road safety regulations to prevent such catastrophic incidents from happening again.