4 dead, 30 injured in Colombia bus crash

BOGOTA - A bus fell off a cliff in the central Colombian department of Tolima on Sunday, killing four people and injuring 30 others, authorities said.

A spokesman for the Tolima regional emergency committee said the bus crashed after running off a winding road in the town of Melgar in the early morning, the El Pais news website reported.

"So far, we know there are four people dead and 30 injured, two of which were critically wounded, but authorities are still at the site of the crash, because we don't know if there are more victims," the spokesman said.

Rescuers had to use cranes to rescue the victims from the wreckage site, which was more than 50 meters down the cliff.

The crash took place at the intersection of a road linking the towns of Melgar and Icononzo, a popular summer vacation spot in central Colombia that draws thousands of tourists during the celebration of All Saints and All Souls Days at the beginning of November, according to the report.  

A similar accident left five people dead and another 25 injured in the town of Betulia in Colombia's department of Antioquia, El Pais reported on Saturday.

Carlos Mena, director of the national highway police, told El Pais that preliminary probes pointed to speeding as the cause of the accidents.