19 Dead in Chile bus crash

Santiago, Agency
The death toll in Tuesday's bus-truck collision near the Chilean capital rose to 19 with the death of one of the injured survivors.
The 19th victim was Manuel Seguel Chavarrcia, 50, who died while he was receiving treatment at Santiago's Barros Luco Hospital.

Eight of the other 22 people injured in the crash are in critical condition.

President Sebastian Piñera visited Santiago's critical care hospital, to which some of the most seriously injured people were transported, and he said that there will be a "thorough" investigation of the causes of the accident on the Sol Highway, which links the capital with the country's central Pacific coast.

Piñera also announced that official oversight of the transport of passengers "is going to double" in 2011.

"Our government has a commitment to life," the president said.

The fatalities from the accident include truckdriver Juan Ortega Vilches, the bus driver Jose Luis Abarca, and his helper Isaac Gatica, Deputy Interior Minister Rodrigo Ubilla said.

Due to the force of the impact, several people were thrown out of the bus and their bodies lay on the ground alongside the highway.

The accident occurred around 7:45 a.m. near Melipilla, some 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of Santiago.

The bus crossed over the highway's tree-lined median strip and its protective barriers and ran into a truck carrying a load of eggs that was going in the opposite direction.

Firefighters and paramedics rushed to the scene, as did a police helicopter that flew those with the worst injuries to hospitals in Santiago.

The accident stopped traffic in both directions between the coastal town of San Antonio and the capital, causing a huge traffic jam.

The bus left the town of Llolleo with 24 people aboard and picked up additional passengers en route, Turbus company director Rodrigo Albarran said.