17 killed in Peru bus collision

Among the dead are two drivers and a Brazilian tourist

LIMA: Two buses collided head-on in Peru, leaving 17 people dead and 29 injured, police said Wednesday.

The cause of the crash on the Pan American Highway Tuesday night near the southern city of Ica is under investigation, Colonel Leandro Flores, chief of the highway police, told America TV.



"It was a head on type of collision," he said.

Among the dead were the two drivers and a Brazilian tourist on a bus traveling to Lima from the city of Cusco, police said.



Highway fatalities are common occurrences in Peru, many of them in accidents involving the country's many private bus companies.

In 2014, the last year for which official statistics are available, 2,798 people died in traffic accidents in the country.