Initially, the firefighters They had reported 22 deaths, a figure that increased as the events progressed. rescue work of the corpses, some of them “charred and imprisoned between the irons”.
The Federal Highway Police explained that the number of victims is “preliminary“because the fire in the vehicle that the accident triggered made it difficult to identification tasks.
He bus driverin which it was first estimated that about 45 passengers were traveling, lost control on a section of the BR-116 highway as it passed through the municipality of Teófilo Otoni.
Depending on the version of the Federal Highway Policethe loss of control occurred after a “large block of granite” fell from a truck that was passing by at that time and hit the bus, which caught fire and ended up completely destroyed.
Another vehicle following then collided with the granite truck, although its three passengers survived with “serious injuries“.
Other 13 bus survivors They were taken to surrounding hospitals for treatment, according to firefighters.
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva“immensely” regretted what happened, expressed his solidarity with the families of the victims and said he prayed for the recovery of the injured.
“He federal government is placed at the disposal of the Teófilo Otoni City Council and the Government of Minas Gerais for everything that is necessary,” he wrote on social networks.
The governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zemaassured that he had ordered the “total mobilization“from the regional Executive and said that the security forces were working”without interruption” since early morning to respond “with agility” to the incident.
