The bus was travelling overnight from Chala, in Caravelí province, toward the city of Arequipa when the collision occurred at about 12:30 a.m. It was carrying at least 60 people. After striking the pickup, the bus left the mountain highway and fell roughly 200 metres onto rocky ground below.
Local health officials said 36 people died at the scene and another person later died in hospital. Reports differed on the total number of injured passengers: one account put the figure at 20, while another said 26 people were hurt. Among those injured were an eight-month-old baby and two other children, and three patients were reported to be in serious condition.
Images from the site showed the bus overturned amid debris and passengers’ belongings. The steep, rocky terrain complicated access for emergency crews. Police and firefighters coordinated efforts to reach survivors, evacuate the injured and recover bodies, according to Peru’s Interior Ministry. The bus driver was among those killed.
Authorities detained the pickup driver, who survived, as prosecutors opened an investigation into responsibility for the collision. Local media reported that the driver tested positive for alcohol, but officials had not publicly completed their inquiry. The evidence available at the time therefore did not establish a final legal finding about the cause of the crash.
The disaster renewed attention on the persistent toll of road accidents in Peru, where winding mountain routes, difficult conditions and dangerous driving contribute to frequent fatalities. Local authorities said the country recorded more than 3,000 traffic deaths in the previous year. Regional health manager Walther Oporto said another bus had previously crashed at the same location, killing 50 people.
The Arequipa collision followed several other deadly bus accidents during 2025. Two buses overturned in separate incidents in July and August, killing at least 28 people in total, while a bus that entered a river in January killed at least six. Those earlier crashes and the scale of the latest loss underscored the risks faced by passengers travelling on Peru’s intercity mountain roads as investigators began reconstructing the events leading to the collision. Fire department officials described the operation as a source of grief for many families, while the difficult landscape slowed an already urgent response across the ravine.
