At least 43 people died and several others were wounded when a tourist bus plunged 400 metres into a ravine in Santa Catarina province of Brazil on Saturday, said a media report on Sunday."Till 11 p.m. (local time), 41 people were found dead and two more died in a local hospital, bringing the death toll to 43," GLOBO news website reported citing the police.An earlier report said that at least 32 people were killed in the accident.The number of casualties might further increase, as police have not yet ascertained the exact number of people on the bus when it crashed, according to Xinhua.
Rescue efforts were on to search for survivors and recover bodies.According to a preliminary investigation, the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a turn, causing it to veer off the road. Highway and weather conditions at the time were good, a police spokesperson said.The accident happened just 10 km away from the destination of the bus in the city of Joinville.The incident might be the worst bus accident so far in Santa Catarina. In 2000, an Argentinean bus crashed in Santa Catarina, killing 42 people.The country averages more than 18 highway deaths per 100,000 people per year, compared with only about 10 in high-income countries, according to a report by the Inter-American Development Bank.