At least 15 killed in Myanmar bus crash

YANGON: At least 15 people were killed in Myanmar after the bus they were travelling in plunged into a gorge, police and state media said on Monday.

The deadly accident happened in Bago region north of the commercial capital Yangon on Saturday evening. The bus was carrying 40 people when it hit a road sign and careered off the road plummeting 60 metres, state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

A local police officer who did not want to be named said 15 people were killed although the newspaper put the death toll at 16. More than a dozen were injured. "The bus conductor was killed and the driver has been hospitalised," the officer told AFP, adding that the driver will face charges.

Most of the passengers were construction workers. Myanmar has a poor road safety track record. The main artery from Yangon to the city of Mandalay has been darkly nicknamed the "death highway".