The bus was carrying 45 passengers and had departed São Paulo the previous morning. Reports differed on its stated destination, naming either Elísio Medrado or Vitória da Conquista in Bahia. Thirteen people from the bus were taken alive to hospitals in the region. The three occupants of a passenger car involved in the sequence also survived, though one account described them as seriously injured.
Investigators were examining how the crash began. Early information from firefighters suggested a bus tyre had burst, causing the driver to lose control and collide with the truck. Brazil’s Federal Highway Police later said evidence at the scene indicated that a large granite block may have detached from the truck and struck the oncoming bus. The vehicle then caught fire. Officials stressed that the precise circumstances remained under investigation.
The intensity of the fire complicated recovery and identification work. Of the first 38 bodies recovered, 25 were completely burned, according to the Federal Highway Police account carried by G1. By the following morning, a criminal investigator said the toll had risen to 41. Eleven bodies had been identified and two released to relatives at that stage. Specialists from São Paulo’s forensic and identification services were sent to assist local teams.
The Federal Highway Police was also trying to locate the truck driver, who left the crash site, O Globo reported. Emergency crews, police and forensic personnel worked through the wreckage while the road was fully closed for roughly six hours. Traffic later resumed under alternating one-way control.
Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema ordered state resources mobilized to support victims and their families, including aircraft available to rescue teams. The bus operator said it was cooperating with the investigation and offering assistance, including psychological support.
G1 described the collision as the deadliest event on Brazil’s federal highways since the Federal Highway Police’s available series began in 2007. That assessment and the changing casualty figure reflected the scale of a disaster whose cause had not yet been conclusively established. The BR-116 has a severe safety record. O Globo reported 559 deaths along the highway in 2023, including 155 in Minas Gerais. A transport confederation survey counted 712 road deaths in the state from November 2022 through October 2023, representing 12 percent of Brazil’s total.
