10 killed, 43 injured after pilgrim bus collides with Sao Paulo viaduct

At least 10 people were killed and 43 others were injured, some seriously, when the charter double-decker bus they were traveling in collided violently with a pole on an overpass early Friday morning on Rodovia Francisco da Silva Pontes (SP 027), near the municipality of Itapetininga, in the interior of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, 170 kilometers from the state capital of the same name. The passengers, all family and friends, were on a pilgrimage to the Nossa Senhora Aparecida sanctuary in the city of Aparecida, also in the interior of São Paulo state.

The driver of the car that was injured told authorities that the bus had a mechanical failure that suddenly locked the steering wheel and brakes, preventing it from going around the viaduct or stopping. The viaduct’s support column acted as a kind of sharp blade and literally cut the bus in half, hitting mainly the right side, where the people who died instantly were.

By late Friday morning, Brazil time, midday in Portugal, of the 43 people injured, six were in serious condition, 13 were in moderate condition and the remaining 24 had minor injuries. The wounded were taken to the Dr. Leo Orsi Bernardes Hospital in Itapetininga, the Sorocaba Hospital Complex and the Dr. Adib Hatene Hospital, also in Sorocaba, a city neighboring Itapetininga.

The passengers on the bus have known each other for many years, all of them residents of the city of Ribeirão Branco, 292 km from São Paulo, and every year they make a pilgrimage to the shrine of the patron saint of Brazil. The same bus and the same driver have taken them on the annual pilgrimage many times before, and that is why they were chosen again.