At least 55 are dead after a bus plunged into gorge in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — At least 55 people are dead after their bus plunged into a gorge and landed under a bridge Monday on the outskirts of Guatemala’s capital.

Investigators from the public ministry said that there were 53 bodies recovered at the scene and the San Juan de Dios Hospital confirmed that two passengers brought there had also died.

Firefighting spokesperson Edwin Villagran said a multi-vehicle crash sent the bus off the road and into the steep gorge below the bridge before dawn. Others were seriously injured.

The bus fell 115 feet (35 meters) into a sewage-polluted stream. It landed upside down and half-submerged.

The bus had come from Progreso, northeast of the capital. Volunteer firefighting spokesman Óscar Sánchez said children were among the victims.

President Bernardo Arévalo offered his condolences and declared a day of national mourning.

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Firefighters work the scene of a fatal bus crash after it fell from a bridge on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

The bodies of passengers who died in a bus crash are lined up on the floor at a makeshift morgue near the site of the accident on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Firefighters lift a stretcher carrying a victim after a fatal bus crash after it fell from a bridge on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Firefighters work the scene of a fatal bus crash after it fell from a bridge on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Firefighters work the scene of a fatal bus crash after it fell from a bridge on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Firefighters work at the scene of a fatal bus crash after it fell from a bridge on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Women stand at the scene of a crash, uncertain if their loved ones were among the passengers of a bus that fell from a bridge, on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A firefighter works inside a bus that fell from a bridge, at the site of the fatal bus crash on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Firefighters work the scene of a fatal bus crash after it fell from a bridge on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia's protesting university students on Sunday collected signatures throughout the country for their request for an early parliamentary election that they hope would oust the autocratic government of President Aleksandar Vucic from office.

Braving freezing weather, the students set up nearly 500 stands in dozens of cities, towns and villages in the Balkan country for residents to sign the election demand, which isn't a formal petition. Students have said that Sunday’s action was meant to put further pressure on Vucic and as a test of support.

Young protesters have been at the forefront of a nationwide movement against Vucic's populist rule in Serbia. More than a year of street protests first started in November 2024 after a train station disaster that killed 16 people.

The concrete canopy collapse in the northern city of Novi Sad was widely blamed on alleged rampant corruption and disregard of construction and safety rules during renovation work at the station. No one has been held responsible for the tragedy.

Vucic has refused to schedule an immediate early vote, but has suggested that it could be held sometime next year. Both parliamentary and presidential elections are otherwise due in 2027.

“We have stands that serve to connect with the citizens," said Igor Dojnov, a student manning one of the points in central Belgrade.

Youth-led protests during the past year have shaken Vucic more than ever during his 13-year-long tenure. Serbia's populist prime minister resigned in January, and Vucic later launched a crackdown on protesters that also drew international criticism.

While street protests have subsided, discontent with Vucic's government is believed to be widespread.

Milca Cankovic Kadijevic, a resident of Belgrade, said that she supported the students, because “I have a desire to live decently — me, my children and my grandchildren."

Vucic has formally promised to take Serbia into the European Union, but he has maintained close links with Russia and China, while facing accusations of clamping down on democratic freedoms and allowing corruption and organized crime to flourish.

He has denied this, and accused the protesters of attempting to orchestrate a “color revolution” under unspecified orders from the West. The term “color revolution” has been used to describe a series of mass protests at the beginning of the 21st century that sometimes led to the toppling of governments in the former Soviet Union states, the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East and Asia.

Serbia's protesting university students collect signatures for their request for an early parliamentary election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Serbia's protesting university students collect signatures for their request for an early parliamentary election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

People stand in silence to commemorate the 16 victims, killed after a railway concrete canopy fell in Nov. 2024 while Serbia's protesting university students collect signatures throughout the country for their request for an early parliamentary election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Serbia's protesting university students collect signatures for their request for an early parliamentary election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Serbia's protesting university students collect signatures for their request for an early parliamentary election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)