 At least 39 have died in Panama after a bus carrying more than 60 migrants fell off a cliff early on February 15, the country's migration authorities said, marking the worst migration accident in the Central American country's history. Local media showed an aerial view of the accident scene, with parts of the wrecked bus lying along the road and multiple rescue teams in the area. The bus, carrying migrants who had traveled through the dairy and gap, a dangerous stretch of jungle that connects Colombia to Central America, was heading towards a shelter located in the western coastal province of Cherokee, which borders Costa Rica. More than half of the 66 passengers in the bus died in the accident near the Gualacá migrant shelter, an area with many curving roads, authorities said. About 20 people were hospitalized with injuries, some of them severely wounded. Panama's Social Security Authority told Reuters. Migration authorities did not provide details on the nationalities of the victims, saying it would first communicate with the relatives and respective embassies of the passengers. Last year, a record 248,000 migrants crossed the dairy and gap, most of them Venezuelans. A new, stricter US migration policy has resulted in many being returned to Panama, where they often cannot afford transportation back to Venezuela. Since the beginning of 2023, a further 32,800 have crossed the dairy and gap, Panama's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.