At least 13 people were killed, and nearly 30 injured when a bus plunged 160 feet into a gorge in Tangua, Colombia, on January 3. The bus was traveling on a road connecting Pasto with Ipiales early in the morning. According to Colombia’s Minister of Transport, María Constanza García Alicastro, 42 passengers were on board, and the crash occurred on a stretch with “complicated curves.” The bus was en route to the Santuario de las Lajas, near the Ecuadorian border.

The injured were taken to nearby hospitals in Tangua, Ipiales, and Pasto. Authorities suggest mechanical failure and speeding as possible causes of the crash. Nariño Governor Luis Alfonso Escobar noted that the driver might have used an alternative route to avoid tolls, contributing to the accident.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro expressed condolences, confirming that police were handling the emergency response. The accident occurred just weeks after a fatal bus crash in the French Pyrenees that killed two Colombians living in Spain. The bus was returning to Barcelona after a shopping trip to Andorra.