"They couldn't remove some of the dead because they were crushed by the bus. There are a lot. There are a lot of dead people, about 24 or 25 of them, pretty many. I am not absolutely certain, but the accident occurred around 6 a.m." - witness

At least 24 people died and another 29 were injured on Saturday (April 16) when a bus went off a highway in Peru's central Andes.

The accident occurred in the early morning near the city of Pasco in central Peru. The bus belonged to the Estrella Polar transportation company.

"They couldn't remove some of the dead because they were crushed by the bus. There are a lot. There are a lot of dead people, about 24 or 25 of them, pretty many. I am not absolutely certain, but the accident occurred around 6 a.m," an area witness said.

The accident marks the second in just a week after 23 people were killed when a bus plunged into a river in the Cuzco region last Saturday (April 9).