Brazil bus crash kills at least 23 and injures five in Parana state

What the report says

At least 23 people were killed and five others injured when a bus carrying patients and healthcare workers collided head-on with a truck in southern Brazil, according to Al Jazeera’s report citing authorities. The crash happened in the early hours of Wednesday on the BR-373 highway in Parana state, near the city of Ipiranga, after the bus was traveling to hospitals around Curitiba.

Police said most of the dead were on the bus, which belonged to the municipal health department of Imbituva. The truck driver was also killed. Preliminary findings cited by authorities suggest the truck moved into the opposite lane before the collision, though investigators are still trying to determine why it crossed the highway.

The five survivors were taken to hospitals in Ponta Grossa, local media reported. The highway was closed in both directions after the wreck, and the road operator said there was no estimated reopening time. Governor Ratinho Junior declared three days of mourning across Parana, while local officials said they were helping relatives and offering psychological support.

The crash is significant because it involved a public health transport carrying people en route to medical care, adding to the toll of a serious road accident in a major southern Brazilian transport corridor. The identities of those killed had not been released at the time of publication.