A bus believed to be speeding turned over on a curving mountain road near the capital Quito Sunday, killing 47 people and injuring five children, authorities said.
The accident Sunday afternoon was 27 miles southeast of Quito near the village of Papallacta, police spokesman Patricio Quimso said.
“Due to excess speed, the driver lost control of the bus and it turned over,” he said.
Quimso said the passengers were believed to family members and friends on an all-day outing. He said they were returning to their homes in the community of Amaguana 10 miles south of Quito, Ecuador’s capital.
He said everyone aboard the bus was killed except for the five injured children.
“According to preliminary information, there are 47 dead and five children who survived,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
He said three of the victims of the accident died from their injuries while being rushed to the hospital.
Jhonny Franco, a Red Cross spokesman, confirmed the number of dead and said the injured children had been taken to a hospital in Quito.
