The bus was transporting more than 50 passengers when the 60m-long bridge it was crossing near Chancay gave in “due to a structural failure”, according to disaster management official Cecilia Martino.

The problem appears to have been with the central pillar of the bridge constructed in the 1960s on the Panamerican Highway.

The bus was headed for the capital Lima from the port city of Chimbote some 400km to the north.

More than 50 police officers and 100 firefighters were part of the rescue operation, said the interior ministry.

The bodies of the bus driver and a passenger have been retrieved, and 41 people were rushed to hospital.

The Andean country has a high incidence of bus crashes, with 3,138 deaths recorded in traffic accidents in 2023, according to the ministry of transport and communications.