Passenger buses, trucks barred from deadly highway in Peru

LIMA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Passenger buses and trucks have been temporarily banished from a stretch of highway near Peru's capital Lima, to prevent a repeat of a tragic crash that claimed 53 lives earlier this week, officials said on Thursday.

In Tuesday's accident, a passenger bus collided with a tractor trailer, then plummeted some 100 meters off a steep cliff, landing upside down on a rocky shoreline. Most of the victims were crushed by the impact, others were flung from the vehicle.

The crash took place along a treacherous 22-kilometer winding tract -- called the Pasamayo Serpentine due to its 52 curves -- that hugs the Pacific coastline as it links the capital with towns farther north. The turn in the road where the two vehicles collided was known as the "Devil's Curve."

"We have temporarily suspended transit along the Pasamayo Serpentine. Now buses and trucks will have to use the alternate route, where a third lane will be built," Transport and Communications Minister Bruno Giuffra said in an interview with Radio Programas de Peru (RPP).

The alternate route, which runs parallel to the Pasamayo, but farther inland, is to be expanded by an extra lane on each side, to draw traffic away from the other, more dangerous route.

Also Thursday, rescue workers, aided by a helicopter and drone, managed to locate and retrieve two more bodies that had been dashed against the cliffside, raising the death toll to 53.

Authorities investigating the cause of the tragic accident say the tractor trailer was to blame for the crash, as the unwieldy vehicle partially invaded the oncoming lane while trying to make a turn. Enditem