Local health department officials were quoted as saying that the bridge over the Santa Barbara river, in southern Peru's Ayacucho province, "broke in two" as students and teachers from four rural schools were crossing it while going home. Fernando Valencia, a surgeon with a local hospital confirmed in reports that the death toll had risen to nine. The accident also injured 53 others, most of whom were children between the ages of 10 and 13, Valencia said. Fourteen of the victims were in critical condition. Local police said the 120-meter bridge, made of wooden boards and slats held together by steel cables, collapsed because too many people were on it.
The Peruvian bridge in Ayachuco province broke because of the weight on it.