Meghan Sennott, a College of Arts and Sciences junior studying tropical ecology in Boston University’s Ecuador program, was killed Sunday morning in a bus accident along with 12 others in Peru’s Andes mountains. She was 20.

The accident, which injured another 40 passenger, occurred when the packed bus drove off of a highway and flipped on its side, according to the Associated Press.

Although Sennott was participating in the study abroad program, the bus trip was not sponsored by the program, BU spokesman Colin Riley said.

A State Department official confirmed Sennott’s death, but could not provide further details on the cause of the accident as of Tuesday. The official said there have been similar bus crashes in Peru.

Peruvian police said the cause of the accident, which is under investigation, has not been determined, according to the AP. However, some reports noted that bus had experienced mechanical problems — forcing it to pull over twice before the accident — and that the driver may have fallen asleep.

It is typical of students studying abroad to continue traveling after the academic period has ended, Riley said. The tropical ecology program ended about one week before the accident.

“A lot of students, when they are abroad, do continue travel after their semester or take advantage of the opportunity to visit other nearby countries or travel in the area,” he said.

Sennott was originally identified by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which employs her father, Richard Sennott, as a photographer.

The U.S. Embassy is in touch with Sennott’s family and is working to help them, the department official said.

The bus skidded off an isolated road about 500 miles southeast of Lima, near Santa Lucia, the AP reported. Sennott’s boyfriend, Richard Gebbie, was also injured in the crash, according to a teaching assistant for the ecology program.

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