March 24, 2006
A bus has crashed in northern Chile killing twelve Jewish American travelers and leaving two people injured. The bus was not legally authorized to transport passengers, Chilean government officials said on Thursday. The victims of Wednesday's crash were part of a 64-member B'nai B'rith group from Connecticut and New Jersey who had taken a side trip from a South American cruise. Local officials said the vehicle was operated by a small company that had not yet received official authorization. A Tourism ministry official said that even the bus itself was unregistered. The accident occurred on a mountainous road as the tourists were returning from a visit to a national park to the ship, which was docked in Arica, some 2,000 kilometers north of the capital of Santiago. The bus fell more than 100 meters.
