At least 20 people are dead and eight injured after a fire tore through a double-decker bus, trapping passengers inside as they burned alive.
Most of the victims were found on the top floor, where passengers were transporting fuel that fed the horror blaze, officials said.
Horrifying images from the scene in Lima, Peru, shows flames ravaging the back of the bus while eyewitnesses desperately try to knock down the inferno with handheld fire extinguishers.
Eyewitnesses said the horror blaze started in the motor at the back of the bus and quickly spread to the interior as passengers struggled to escape.
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The vehicle became completely engulfed at a bus stop that authorities had banned just weeks earlier because it was next to an illegal shop that sells fuel.
Eight fire engines raced to the scene to battle the blaze.
TV footage showed the gutted remains of the bus which was travelling from Lima to the northern coastal city of Chiclayo.
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The cause of Sunday night's fire is under investigation.
Lima's Mayor Jorge Munoz told reporters the bus stop had recently been banned.
He added: "It appears that on the second floor of bus, where most of the victims were found, they were transporting fuel.
"That's a very serious matter."
The bus lacked fire extinguishers and safety equipment, the fire brigade told local media.
Mr Munoz vowed to punish the owners.
He added: "They have defied a municipal order.
"I'm completely outraged.
"These people must be removed and criminal sanctions will be sought."
Lima, the capital of Peru, has a so-called "informal" transportation system, a chaotic network of independent and unauthorised vans and buses used by millions of people every day.
Authorities have repeatedly failed to reign it in.
