LIMA, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a bus accident in Peru rises to 36, local authorities said on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Health confirmed that 36 people have been killed after a bus carrying some 50 passengers collided into an oncoming trailer truck around midday on Tuesday, skidded off the road and plummeted 400 meters off the highway near the capital Lima.

An earlier report from the police said that at least 25 people had been killed.