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Traffic accident kills 16 in Peru
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-01 04:42

LIMA: At least 16 people were killed and 20 others injured on early Friday when a bus went off the road and turned several times in Cusco department, southwest of Peru.

The Highway Police said the accident occurred when the driver is said to fall asleep while driving.

The bus had departed with 53 people aboard from Arequipa, in the south, to Cusco in the southeast, a distance of 150 km between them.

Some 90 minutes before arriving at the destination, the bus went off the road and turned several times in Raynapata sector, in Quispicanchis province.

The rescuers sent the injured to Cusco city hospital of treatment.