Minas Gerais road crash

The BR-116 highway is described as the road with the most deaths in Brazil. With an extensive road network and a busy flow of heavy trucks, especially in granite-producing regions in northern Minas Gerais, serious crashes are frequent, including during the intense end-of-year season. Experts say the highway suffers from structural problems and insufficient inspection. The Rodovia Régis Bittencourt (Régis Bittencourt Highway), the Taboão da Serra–Curitiba section, is nicknamed the "Highway of Death” (“Rodovia da Morte") due to its high number of lethal accidents.^[8]

According to data from the National Transport Confederation [pt] (CNT), the state of Minas Gerais has the most crashes and fatal victims on Brazilian highways.^[9] The National Department of Transport Infrastructure [pt] (DNIT) said that the speed limit radar near the crash site was removed after the end of the contract with the company responsible for the equipment.^[10]

In addition, the country had had a history of deadly bus crashes in the decade before: in 2015, a tourist bus fell into a ravine in Joinville, Santa Catarina, resulting in at least 51 casualties;^[11] in 2020, 41 people died, and 10 others were injured after a collision between a bus and a truck near Taguaí, São Paulo, on the SP-249 state highway.^[12]

Initial reporting by firefighters claimed that a passenger bus traveling on the BR-116 highway from São Paulo to Bahia^[a] had a tire blowout, causing it to lose control and collide with an oncoming B-double truck at around 4 a.m. local time.^[13][14] However, according to the Federal Highway Police, the collision likely occurred when a granite block fell from the truck and hit the bus, which consequently lost control and caught fire.^[15] Afterward, a Fiat Argo car collided with the back of the truck. Its occupants were trapped underneath the vehicle but survived.^[14] They also reported the bus had a right-rear tire burst.^[15] A survivor on the bus said the vehicle that originally left São Paulo was replaced en route by the one that ended up crashing.^[16] The bodies of most of the fatalities were found to be charred.^[1]

Police believe the truck driver, whose license was suspended after refusing to take a breathalyzer test two years prior, fled the crash site without injuries. Receipts showed the truck he drove had left Ceará toward Espírito Santo.^[17][18] Police also said the weight of the granite block exceeded the permitted limit.^[19] The moment of the impact and the explosion was captured by a surveillance camera.^[20]

On his X account, President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva offered his condolences to the victims' families, stating: "I immensely regret and send my prayers to the relatives of the more than 30 fatal victims from the accident in Teófilo Otoni, Minas Gerais. I pray for the recovery of the survivors of this terrible tragedy." Governor of Minas Gerais Romeu Zema promised “full mobilization” to assist the victims.^[13][21] Emtram, the transport company that operated the bus involved, issued a note regretting the crash and providing assistance to the affected people.^[22]

Two days later, on 23 December, the suspected truck driver, Arilton Bastos Alves, handed himself over to local police.^[23] After being heard, he was not immediately held in custody because his request for his preventive detention was judicially rejected and it was no longer possible to detain him in flagrante.^[24]

• List of traffic collisions (2000–present)
• Transport in Brazil