At least 44 dead as bus veers off cliff

A double-decker bus has run off the Panamerican Highway and tumbled 200 metres down a cliff in southern Peru, and officials say at least 44 people have died.

Highway Police chief Jorge Castillo told The Associated Press that the death toll had risen as officers counted more bodies and worked to rescue survivors.

Some were flown to hospitals in military helicopters. About two dozen people were injured.

The bus operated by the Rey Latino line ran off the road shortly after midnight near the mouth of the Ocona River on Peru's southern Pacific coast.

The cause wasn't immediately known, but accidents caused by reckless driving on poorly maintained mountain roads claim dozens of lives every year in Peru.

In January, 52 people were killed in the country's worst road fatality in four decades.