From correspondents in Americas, 07:00 AM IST

At least 20 people, including several children, were killed in eastern Peru when two passenger boats crashed on the Ucayali River Tuesday, authorities said.

The accident occurred close to San Jose de Pacache, a small town in Peru's Amazon rainforest, the port captain in departmental capital Pucallpa told media.

A small boat rescued two people from the river and carried them to the nearby town of Puerto Callao.

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

(Staff Writer, © IANS)