The death toll rose to six on Sunday morning (Sept. 20) after a bus carrying Catholic pilgrims fell down a roughly 15-meter embankment in Cruzeiro, a city in São Paulo state on the border with Minas Gerais. A child of about 10 is among the victims, according to preliminary information from the state emergency service Samu. The bus was on its way to Aparecida, Brazil's biggest pilgrimage site.

Five people died at the scene. A sixth victim died later at the Santa Casa hospital in Cruzeiro, said Lt. Vinícius de Souza Rocha of the São Paulo Military Highway Police. News site g1 reports that Samu lists the dead as a 47-year-old man from Lavras, in Minas Gerais; a 74-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman, both from Itumirim; plus a man of about 50 and a woman still unidentified.

The bus left the road on the Doutor Avelino Júnior highway. The fire department counted 48 people on board, and around 40 passengers were injured, according to Folha de S.Paulo. The wounded were taken to charity hospitals known as Santas Casas in Cruzeiro, Guaratinguetá and Lorena.

How it happened

The driver lost control for reasons still to be clarified, and the bus plunged down the embankment around 5:30 a.m., according to the fire department. Crews from the fire service and Samu, including units from Cruzeiro, Cachoeira Paulista, Lorena and Guaratinguetá, worked the rescue.

The trip began on Saturday night. According to g1, the bus left Lavras, in Minas Gerais, around 10 p.m. with residents of the city and neighboring towns. The fire department, however, told Folha that the vehicle had come from Ipatinga, also in Minas Gerais. The excursion belonged to Botelhos Viagens, a company from Lavras, and a relative told g1 that the driver owns the firm. He was injured, and his breathalyzer test came back negative.

Investigation continues

The highway police are checking the circumstances of the crash and the paperwork of the driver and the vehicle, including the documents required to carry passengers. "One step in responding to the incident is verifying the documentation of both the driver and the vehicle," Lt. Vinícius said.

São Paulo's state government expressed regret over the deaths and said teams from the Military Police, the fire department and the highway agency DER are working at the site. Northbound traffic is running under stop-and-go control, with no congestion reported.