Panama accident: 33 die as bus transporting migrants crashes with minibus

A bus carrying migrants bound for the United States collided with a minibus in Panama on Wednesday, killing at least 33 people, according to a Central American official.

Samira Gozaine, Panama's national director of migration, updated the death toll from 15 to "for now, we have information of 33 people dead."

President Laurentino Cortizo had previously stated that 15 people had died in the early-morning crash in Gualaca, Chiriqui.

The bus was carrying 66 people, including the driver and an assistant, when it crashed about 400 kilometres (250 miles) west of Panama City, according to police transit operations commissioner Emiliano Otero.

The nationalities of the victims and the number of people injured have yet to be reported by authorities. According to Cortizo, the government is providing medical care to survivors.

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According to Gozaine, three people were critically injured at the crash site.

According to local media, several of the injured were taken by ambulance to a hospital in David, the provincial capital of Chiriqui.

The bus was transporting migrants from Darien, a jungle area in Panama's east bordering Colombia, westward towards Costa Rica, where the passengers planned to continue their journey through Central America and Mexico, eventually arriving in the United States.

According to local media, the driver forgot to stop at a hostel near Gualaca where the passengers were supposed to rest before continuing to Costa Rica. The accident occurred as the bus was turning back.