16 killed, dozens injured in Honduras highway collisions

Rescue workers and members of the red cross are carrying a body after a crash between a bus and a truck on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, February 5, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

TEGUCIGALPA - At least 16 people were killed and dozens were injured on Sunday in two separate collisions that involved at least five vehicles on Sunday, local media reported.

In one accident, a full passenger bus collided with a semitruck along the highway connecting the capital Tegucigalpa with the southern part of the country, killing at least 15 people and injuring 38, according to the daily La Prensa.

The news outlet initially reported 17 deaths and 35 injured due to the accident.

Images of the crash site showed the truck was turned over on its side and pinned down the bus onto the highway after the two collided head on.

Another daily Diez reported "the scene is Dantesque," and the interior part of the bus was "full of corpses."

Video footage showed rescuers placing the injured into ambulances, which later headed to the University School Hospital (HEU).

Relatives of the victims gathered outside the hospital waiting for news, with some of the injured survivors said to be in critical condition.

The public transit bus was reportedly carrying some 60 passengers, including the son of the mayor of San Miguelito, a town close to the crash site. Both the bus driver and his assistant are among the dead.

Having yet to determine the cause of the accident, authorities arrested the truck driver, who was reportedly accused of overspeed driving.

The driver has been protected "from being lynched by angry relatives" gathering at the crash site, Diez added.

A third daily, El Heraldo, interviewed a survivor who said the fault was with the truck's driver.

"The bus was not speeding. I saw the truck and decided to exit the back door," Maximo Ponce said, adding "I threw myself from the bus."

In a separate crash, three vehicles collided on a southern highway near the town of Ojojona, killing one person, La Prensa reported.

A picture of the crash showed a white car ram into the back of a beige pickup truck, and another vehicle lie in the other lane.

According to the Violence Watch at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, in the first half of 2016, traffic accidents were "the second cause of death" in the country.

The average death toll from such accidents stood at 117 per month, or four a day.