35 passengers heading home for Christmas celebrations in Ecuador have been killed when the overcrowded bus veered off the road.
At least 31 passengers survived, but were injured, some of them badly.
Ecuadorian Red Cross spokesman Fernando Gandarillas has said that seven children were among the dead.
The bus had been travelling from the capital Quito to the eastern towns of Chone and San Isidro, a trip of more than 250km when it fell into a deep ravine as it negotiated a descent.
The bus had been filled over capacity and appeared to have experienced a gearbox problem before the driver lost control.
One survivor told the television station Ecuavisa said that, just before the accident, a woman at the front of the bus started screaming that the driver 'can't shift gears.'
He said the driver appeared to attempt to keep control of the vehicle, but failed and the bus rolled over for some 200 meters before hitting a tree then dropping into the deep ravine.
Another survivor, Juan Pablo Alcivar, told Radio Quito how the bus's gears were heard grinding as the driver tried to shift down.
The injured survivors were taken to several hospitals in the area, while the bodies of those killed were put in police trucks for transport to morgues.
The accident occurred on a busy day on the South American nation's roads, as thousands of Ecuadorians streamed back to home towns to share in family Christmas gatherings.
