At least 39 migrants were killed and about 20 were injured early Wednesday when the bus they were riding in western Panama tumbled off a cliff, authorities said. Officials did not immediately report nationalities, but the migrants had crossed the treacherous Darien Gap from Colombia. The Panamanian government typically moves migrants who have crossed the Darien to a camp near the Costa Rica border on the other side of Panama. The migrants pay for the bus tickets, but the buses are only for migrants. There are usually two drivers, as well as personnel from the National Immigration Service. Samira Gozaine, director of Panama’s National Immigration Service, said it appeared the bus driver had passed the entrance to a shelter in Gualaca and when he tried to turn around to get back on the highway, the bus collided with another bus and went off the cliff. Images from the scene showed a broken guardrail on a curve in a forested area just a couple hundred yards beyond the shelter. The bus was carrying 66 migrants to the Los Planes shelter. Also read: Official: 17 people killed in bus-truck crash in NW Pakistan Ambulances carried the injured to the nearest hospital in David. “This news is regrettable for Panama and for the region,” President Laurentino Cortizo said via Twitter. It was the worst accident involving migrants in Panama in at least a decade. The flow of migrants through Panama surged in recent years as more risked the dangerous crossing as they tried to make their way north to the United States. Last year, nearly 250,000 migrants crossed the Darien jungle – the majority Venezuelans – a record number that nearly doubled the total from the previous year. In January, more than 24,000 migrants crossed Darien, mostly Haitians and Ecuadoreans, according to Panamanian authorities.

At least 22 people were killed and nearly two dozen injured when a public bus crashed into a truck in the center of Benin, the government on Monday. The president’s director of communications posted on Facebook that first responders had immediately been dispatched to the scene of the crash that occurred near the town of Dassa-Zoume on Sunday. “In this painful circumstance, the government expresses its sympathy to the whole nation and presents its deepest condolences to all the grieving families. This tragedy has once again reminded us that safety on our roads remains a constant challenge and urges us to take even stronger actions for a more effective safety of people and goods,” the director said. A crisis unit has been set up for relatives to get information. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. An investigation has been opened into the circumstances of the crash, said authorities. Images and videos of the crash shared on social chat groups and seen by The Associated Press show the bus in flames and a charred body on the ground as one man tried to put out the fire with a jerry can of water. About 21 people had burn injuries to varying degrees, said Benjamin Hounkpatin, the health minister during an interview with state television on Sunday. Speaking outside the hospital in Cotonou where the injured had been taken, he said they were alerted about the crash early evening Sunday and that health staff were doing everything they could. “For the people who were burned we can't guarantee what will happen to them,” said Hounkpatin. Transport accidents occur in Benin due to narrow roads in parts of the country, however, the death toll is not usually so high, according to locals. In July, three people were killed in a crash between a bus and a car near the town of Parakou, according to local media.

A Poland-registered bus carrying pilgrims to a shrine in Bosnia skidded from a highway in northern Croatia early Saturday, killing at least 12 people and injuring several others, police and officials said. Croatian police said on Twitter that “in the skidding of a bus with Polish license plates, according to initial information from the field, 11 people died and several were injured." Officials said one more passenger died later in a hospital and that the bus was carrying 43 people. Croatia’s state HRT television reported that about 30 people were injured, many seriously. It said the most likely cause of the crash was the driver falling asleep.   The broadcaster showed video of a smashed blue bus in a ditch next to the highway. The bus was traveling in the direction of Zagreb, Croatia's capital. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the bus was taking pilgrims to the Catholic shrine in Medjugorje, a town in southern Bosnia. The shrine is Europe’s third-most popular pilgrimage destination after Lourdes and Fatima, although the Vatican has not verified any of the reported miracles that witnesses claimed to have seen there. “This morning, I spoke about the details of the tragedy with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who assured the full support of Croatian medical services," Morawiecki said on Facebook. "I recommended our consular services to organize a support organization for the families of accident participants." Also read: Blaze kills firefighter’s 10 relatives, 3 of them children Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinic said the bus originated from “a place near Warsaw" and that “according to some information," it was carrying pilgrims to Medjugorje. The accident happened at 5:40 a.m. local time (3:40 a.m. GMT) some 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Zagreb, on the A-4 highway, which is busy during the peak of the tourist season. Rescue teams were sent to the location of the accident that an investigation what caused the accident was ongoing, Croatian media reported. Also read: Hostel fire kills 8 in Moscow

A bus crash in western Bulgaria early Tuesday has killed at least 45 people, authorities said. The bus, registered in North Macedonia, crashed around 2 a.m. and there were children among the victims, authorities said. Seven people were taken to hospitals for treatment. The cause of the crash was not immediately confirmed, but it appeared that the bus hit a highway guard rail, crashed and caught fire. Officials said an investigation will be launched. Also read: Bus crash in rugged Nepal district leaves 28 dead, 15 hurt Bulgarian news agency Novinite said representatives from North Macedonia’s embassy visited a hospital where some of the victims were taken. Photos taken shortly after the crash showed the bus engulfed in flames with plumes of thick, black smoke rising from the scene. Bulgarian Caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev visited the site of the crash and told reporters it was “a huge tragedy.” “I take this opportunity to send my condolences to the relatives of the victims,” Yanev said. “Let’s hope we learn lessons from this tragic incident and we can prevent such incidents in the future.” North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told Bulgarian television channel bTV that he had spoken to one of the bus survivors. “One of the passengers told me that he was asleep and woke up from an explosion,” Zaev told bTV, adding that the authorities will gather information that is “important for the families of the dead and the survivors.” Also read: 15 die in bus-truck collision in India Oliver Varhelyi, a European Union Commissioner, sent his condolences to the families and friends of those affected by the crash. “Terrible news about the tragic bus accident in Bulgaria in early morning hours,” Varhelyi wrote online. “My thoughts & condolences are with the families and friends of those who died as well as with the people and the authorities of North Macedonia.” In 2019, Bulgaria, an EU nation of 7 million, had the second-highest road fatality rate in the 27-nation bloc with 89 people killed per million population, according to European Commission data.

At least eight people were killed and six others injured after a van collided with a tractor-trailer Friday in the northern Mexican state of Durango, local authorities have said.

Eight fans of Ecuadorian first division club Barcelona de Guayaquil died when a passenger bus veered off a road and crashed into a ravine in northern Peru on Saturday.

Eight people were killed and 30 others wounded when a passenger bus overturned in Indonesia's West Java province on Saturday, media reported on Sunday.

At least 16 people were killed and another 40 injured when a bus crashed on Monday morning into a number of other vehicles near the town of Caraveli in the Arequipa region of Peru, said Dember Munoz Lozada, head of Regional Health Management for Arequipa.

Indonesian authorities on Thursday ended their search for victims on a bus that plunged into a ravine on Sumatra island after its brakes apparently malfunctioned, killing at least 35 people and injuring 13 others.

A trailer truck collided with a passenger bus in eastern Guatemala early Saturday, killing at least 20 people and leaving a dozen wounded, according to the national disaster agency. It said nine of the dead were minors.