(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-06 09:10

LIMA - At least 19 people were killed and 48 injured in a highway accident in Peru's southern Andean region of Ayacucho, police said Wednesday.

The accident occurred Tuesday night when an interprovincial bus turned over on the Puquio-Abancay road, some 500 kms southeast of Lima.

Speeding, overload of passengers and cargo as well as bad road conditions affected by heavy rainfalls caused the accident, police said.

The injured have been sent to local hospitals and five of those seriously injured have been transferred to hospitals in Ica and Lima.