A bus packed with university students and teachers slammed into a hillside in eastern Thailand before dawn Friday, killing at least 22 people and injuring 27 others, police said.
The bus was traveling down a steep road with numerous curves when it hit the hillside in Prachinburi province, police Maj Suchart Yaemsak said.
"An initial investigation shows that the bus might have had a brake failure and could not stop on the steep road," Suchart said.
The death toll was expected to increase since a number of the injuries were severe, the police officer said.
The passengers were students and teachers traveling from the northeastern province of Khon Kaen to Chantanaburi province. Most of the dead were aged between 20 and 28, police said.
Meanwhile, in Pakistan, at least 25 people including 20 students were killed Friday in a collision between a packed passenger bus and a trailer-truck in central Pakistan, local TV reported.
Another 48 people were wounded in the collision, which occurred near the city of Lodhran in the province of Punjab as one of the vehicles was trying to overtake another, according to GEO TV.
The report said the bus was carrying more than 100 people, with some of them sitting on its roof. The dead comprised 20 students, four women and a boy, it said.
Pakistan's Aaj TV, meanwhile, reported the death toll rising to 28.
The Associated Press of Pakistan said the bus driver was driving over the speed limit and lost control over the vehicle, causing it to smash into the trailer truck coming from the opposite direction.
© Wire reports
7 Comments
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smithinjapan
Very sad. I have no doubt, however, that the bus was speeding (especially since the breaks were insufficient to slow the bus down!).
some14some
very sad - loss of 22 young students. RIP.
Hughgarse
bloody hell.. must have been pretty nasty...
nath
Unfortunately, quite common in Thailand. My friend and her sister were in a bus crash there, the sister was killed, while my friend broke her pelvis and was in traction for months. The driver was well over the legal limit for alcohol.
Nippon5
I am afraid of the buses in Thailand, they look like something from MadMax and they have no AC.. and they are always overfilled.. I wouldnt doubt the driver had that bus at its limits, since the limits of those buses has to be very low...
Very Sad news.. Peace to those families involved!
SuperLib
Sounds like a nightmare...
rjd_jr
Rest in peace to the unfortunate studetns.