LIMA, July 28 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed and one child was seriously injured after a pickup truck plunged off a cliff in Peru's central Junin region, local media reported Monday.

The accident occurred Sunday in the remote area of Carpapata, located between the towns of Tarma and La Merced. The vehicle veered off the road and fell approximately 300 meters down a ravine.

Emergency crews from the highway police responded to the scene. A child was rescued and is the sole survivor of the crash.

The tragedy follows another fatal road accident last week in the same province, where a bus crash in the town of Talca left 18 people dead.

According to Peru's National Road Safety Observatory under the Ministry of Transport and Communications, 1,215 people were killed and 22,846 injured in traffic accidents across Peru between January and May of this year. ■