Santiago, Chile – A bus carrying cruise-ship tourists plunged 300 feet down a mountain ravine in northern Chile, killing as many as 12 people, most believed to be U.S. citizens, officials said.
Authorities said five people were injured – three Americans, the Chilean bus driver and a tour guide – in Wednesday’s crash along a rugged highway near the Pacific port city of Arica, 1,250 miles north of Santiago.
The identities of the victims were not immediately known.
“We have confirmed 11 people killed, most of them apparently from the United States,” said Juan Carlos Poli, an Arica city- hall spokesman.
The crash occurred as the tourists returned to their Bahamas- registered Millennium cruise ship after visiting the nearby Lauca National Park at an altitude of 13,000 feet.
“We still do not know the causes of the accident, but the road in that area has several cliffs and is very curvy,” Poli told the Associated Press by telephone.
Poli said the injured American tourists were taken to the Arica Juan Noe Hospital.
He said the bus had a capacity of 16 passengers and “was totally destroyed.”
The ship was scheduled to leave for Peru early Monday, but the departure was postponed indefinitely in the wake of the accident, police said.
The Millennium cruise ship is operated by Celebrity Cruises, which is owned by Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
A statement by Celebrity Cruises said the tourists were sailing aboard Celebrity Cruises’ Millennium but that it was an independent private tour not affiliated with the cruise line.
The ship was sailing a 14-night South American cruise that departed Valparaiso, Chile, on Sunday and was scheduled to conclude in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on April 2.
