And bus accident from the bursting of a tire in the early hours of this Saturday left at least 37 muertos on a highway in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The event, at 3:30 in the morning, involved a bus, a truck and a car on the BR-116 highway near the town of Teófilo Otoni, in the interior of Minas Gerais.
The bus had left São Paulo bound for Jequié in the state of Bahia, when a tire apparently burst and the vehicle entered the wrong direction of the highway, crashing into a truck loaded with stones. A car coming from behind also crashed into the bus, but the three occupants of the car survived.
The bus caught fire in the collision and the vast majority of the dead passengers were left behind. charred. Of the 45 passengers on the bus, 13 were rescued and taken to hospitals in the city, Brazilian media reported. One hypothesis indicates the possibility that one of the stones fell from the truck and triggered the accident.
“All my condolences to the families and friends,” said the governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema. We are working to ensure that the families of the victims are welcomed so that they can deal with this tragedy in the most humane way possible on the eve of the Christmassuch a significant date for everyone.”
The Globe He highlighted that BR-116 is known as “the deadliest highway in Brazil”.
“In 2023, 559 deaths were recorded along its route, 155 of them in Minas Gerais, the state that leads road deaths,” he added. Between November 2022 and October 2023, 712 people died on the roads of Minas Gerais, 12% of the deaths recorded in Brazil in road accidents.