Bus plows into terminal and kills two women at Itambé station in Brazil.
NEWS:
A passenger bus crashed into the Itambé bus terminal in Bahia, Brazil, on the morning of April 6, 2026, killing two women and leaving multiple people badly injured.
The crash happened at a roadside passenger support area in Itambé, in southwestern Bahia, along the BA-263 corridor. The bus belonged to Rota Transportes and was operating the Vitória da Conquista to Itabuna route, a trip of about 240 kilometers. Reports from the day of the crash said the vehicle had left Vitória da Conquista and reached Itambé after about 57 kilometers.
Security footage from the terminal area shows the bus moving into the passenger space and striking the structure where people were present. The video records the vehicle advancing into the terminal area and the immediate panic inside the building. Other footage from the aftermath shows damage to the station, people on the ground and emergency response activity around the impact area.
The two women killed were identified in local reporting as Danyele Jeniffer Ramos Santana, 20, and Janete Silva Oliveira, 51. Danyele was a university student in the fourth semester of a Biological Sciences degree program at the Itapetinga campus of a public university in Bahia. Janete was also identified among the fatal victims in reports released after the crash.
Danyele was traveling with two uncles, Danilson Ramos Santana, 42, and Danildo Ramos Santana, 39. Both men were seriously injured and taken to Hospital Geral de Vitória da Conquista. Later reports said the brothers suffered amputations caused by the force of the impact. One report stated that one lost a leg and the other lost a foot. Another later update described both as having had legs amputated. Because the exact medical details vary across reports, the confirmed point is that both suffered severe limb injuries and remained hospitalized after the crash.
Initial information from local authorities said the bus hit an area where passengers usually waited to board. Emergency teams, including SAMU, were called to assist the victims. Municipal health teams also helped with the response at the terminal.
The driver left the scene after the crash, according to reports citing investigators. Later updates said he presented himself to police and would respond to the inquiry while free. He was identified in later reporting as Abel Ferreira de Souza.
The cause of the crash remains a disputed point. An early version attributed to the driver through a transport workers’ union said the bus lost its brakes while approaching the terminal to load and unload passengers. Police had not confirmed that version at the time of the initial reporting.
The transport company later said the vehicle had been inspected and that no mechanical or brake failure had been found up to that point. The company also said the bus was a 2025 Volvo Paradiso R model, had valid operating certificates and was cleared for passenger transport. Police, however, were quoted in later local reporting as saying that a full criminalistics inspection of the vehicle had not yet been completed, meaning mechanical failure could not be fully ruled out at that stage.
Investigators also reviewed what happened shortly before the crash. A police official said preliminary information indicated that the driver had argued with people who were seated in an area he considered improper. According to that account, the driver had said he would not park the bus while the people remained in that position. The official said the driver then returned to the bus and that the vehicle advanced into the terminal area. The official also said the bus was automatic and that investigators still needed to determine exactly what happened in the moments before the impact.
In a later statement circulated after the crash, the driver reportedly apologized to the families of the victims and said he had not intended to cause the accident. He said he had stopped the vehicle, asked people to move away and then returned to the driver’s seat to maneuver the bus. According to his account, he felt severe dizziness, his vision darkened and he only regained awareness after the crash. He said he could not say whether the episode was caused by accumulated fatigue from work or by a health problem.
That statement is the driver’s version, not a final finding. Investigators were still reviewing the driver’s conduct, the condition of the vehicle, witness accounts, the terminal layout and the technical evidence from the crash.
The municipality of Itambé declared three days of official mourning after the deaths. The public university where Danyele studied also issued a mourning notice and suspended activities at the Itapetinga campus on April 6, while declaring three days of mourning across its campuses.
The core facts established by the available reports and video are that a Rota Transportes bus entered the Itambé terminal area, struck people and the terminal structure, killed two women and left at least two men with severe injuries. The cause of the bus’s sudden advance remains under technical and police review.
News story written by Tifa Winters.
For more on this case:
If you want to know more about this case, just visit the following URL: https://g1.globo.com/ba/bahia/noticia/2026/04/06/acidente-rodoviaria-interior-da-bahia.ghtml
