At Least 39 People Died In The Bus Accident In Panama.

A bus disaster in Panama on Wednesday claimed the lives of at least 39 individuals, the most of them illegal migrants headed for the US who had recently survived a treacherous jungle passage, according to authorities.

According to Maria Isabel Saravia, the deputy director of migration for Panama, 28 other persons were hurt in the incident.

Some 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Panama City, the National Migration Agency said that the bus crashed into a minibus after plunging into a ravine.

The current death toll was based on “preliminary information,” according to the statement, and the wounded, including children, were being treated at several hospitals and clinics.

Saravia said that there were 66 persons aboard the bus, indicating that at least one casualty was probably from the car it struck. She said that there were 20 juveniles on the bus.

At least three children were among the fatalities, according to a message from UNICEF to AFP.

Those who had traversed the Darien Gap, a hostile rainforest region bordering Colombia, were being transported by the bus.

They were traveling west toward Costa Rica with the intention of continuing through Central America and Mexico to the United States from there.