At least 20 people died, including several children, in eastern Peru department Ucayali when two passenger boats crashed on the Ucayali River at around 5:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday, regional authorities told local media.

The accident took place close to San Jose de Pacache, a small town in Peru's Amazon rainforest, when the two boats were carrying over 100 passengers, the port captain in departmental capital Pucallpa told media. The exact number was not known because they are cargo boats carrying people on an informal basis.

A small boat rescued two people from the river and carried them to the nearby town of Puerto Callao, in Coronel Portillo municipality. These survivors alerted rescuers.

Both boats had set out from Pucallpa heading for Iquitos, a city in northeastern Peru.

Source: Xinhua