At least 23 people were killed and 27 injured when a bus hurtled into a deep gorge in Peru's southeastern Andes, police said on Saturday. The bus was carrying local farmers and traders along a winding, potholed road about 570 miles (900 km) southeast of Lima. "Apparently the driver fell asleep at the wheel. Rescue teams are continuing to pull out bodies trapped in the wreckage," a police officer said. The accident happened on Friday afternoon, he added. Hundreds of people die in bus crashes every year in Peru because of perilous roads, poorly maintained vehicles and bad judgment by drivers in treacherous weather conditions. In Lima alone, 715 people died in bus crashes from January to August this year, 6 percent more than in the same period last year, according to transit police data.
