LIMA – Sixteen people died and 30 were injured Friday when a bus skidded off the road in the southern Peruvian region of Cuzco, police said.

The accident occurred shortly before 6:00 a.m. in the Rayanpata district, which lies about 90 minutes from the city of Cuzco.

The bus left Thursday night from the southern city of Arequipa with 53 passengers bound for Cuzco.

Authorities initially put the death toll at 10, but six additional bodies were found among the wreckage of the bus, a spokesman for the Cuzco regional police told Efe.

He said authorities have yet to identify all of the fatalities.

Traffic accidents, according to official figures, killed 875 people and left 5,307 others injured last year in Peru.

Experts say the high accident rate in Peru’s interior is extremely high due to the poor condition of roads, an obsolete bus fleet and drivers who obtain licenses on the “black market” by paying between $30 and $50. EFE