At least 36 people have been killed after a double-decker bus veered off a road and tumbled 650ft down a cliff in southern Peru.

Highway police chief Jorge Castillo said the death toll could rise. Police say at least 34 other people were injured.

The accident took place before dawn on Wednesday near the province of Camana.

The cause of the accident is not immediately known, but crashes caused by reckless driving on poorly maintained mountain roads claim dozens of lives every year in Peru.

In January, 52 people were killed in the country’s worst road fatality in four decades.