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LA PAZ, June 7 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 people were killed and 18 injured in a road accident on a rural highway in southeastern Bolivia, the country's traffic police announced Tuesday.
Bolivian daily La Razon reported that the accident involving a passenger bus took place on Monday evening at 7:30 p.m., close to the town of Yocalla in the department of Potosi.
The director of Potosi's traffic police, Colonel Eduardo Rivera, said the bus was travelling between the town of Villazon and the capital of La Paz, with a stop at Potosi.
According to Rivera, the exact conditions of the accident are still being analyzed but investigators think the bus was travelling over the speed limit, which "many drivers unfortunately do."
The police chief said his forces worked for over 10 hours to rescue the injured and remove the bodies of the dead, when weather conditions were below freezing and with poor visibility.
However, the lack of phone coverage, the darkness and intense cold prevented the police from quickly reaching the site, said Rivera.
The injured were taken to the Daniel Bracamonte hospital in Potosi and a hospital in the nearby village of Lokalla.
Some survivors said they believed the bus had hit the barrier on the side of the highway and flipped over. Enditem
