Story highlights 43 now reported dead

Official blames tire blowout for the accident

(CNN) A bus carrying Argentine frontier police plunged off a bridge in rural northern Argentina on Monday, killing 43 people on board, a spokeswoman for the provincial governor's office told CNN.

The bus, part of a three-bus convoy, came to rest in the Balboa River near the northern Argentina city of Rosario de la Frontera, roughly 1,160 kilometers (720 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires. Authorities said 51 people were on the bus.

Eight people were hospitalized, Lucía Mallozi, an official in the office of the governor of Salta province, told CNN.

Two were flown by helicopter to a hospital in the city of Salta, Mallozi said. The remaining six were being treated at a hospital in Rosario de la Frontera and their injuries were not considered critical, according to Mallozi.

An official at the scene, Ernesto Flores, the provincial undersecretary for civil defense, had earlier reported 41 deaths and nine injuries.

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