A fatal collision on the BR-101 highway in the municipality of Nova Viçosa, in the southern tip of Bahia, claimed the life of a truck driver on Friday morning. The accident involved a tanker truck, loaded with chemical products and fuel, and a bus transporting rural workers to a coffee harvest.
According to the Federal Highway Police (PRF), the crash occurred in the stretch between the districts of Posto da Mata and Itabatan. The driver of the tanker truck died at the scene. His identity has not yet been officially released by authorities.
The bus was carrying a group of agricultural laborers. Emergency services reported that between 15 and 20 passengers on the bus sustained injuries of varying degrees. All were attended to by PRF teams, paramedics, and other emergency responders who were dispatched to the location.
The severity of the accident forced authorities to implement a full closure of the BR-101 in the early hours of the morning to allow for rescue operations and the initial investigation. This caused significant disruption to traffic flow on the major federal highway.
Partial traffic flow was restored in the increasing direction at approximately 8:20 a.m. The highway was not fully reopened to all traffic until 10:45 a.m., several hours after the initial incident. The circumstances that led to the collision are currently under investigation by the Federal Highway Police.
Based on reporting from g1.