24 killed in Ecuador road accident

QUITO: A bus carrying people from Colombia and Venezuela crashed in Ecuador early Tuesday, killing 24 people and injuring 18 others, officials said.

The dead included an unspecified number of Venezuelans and Colombians, whose embassies were notified of the accident outside Quito, they said. "Most of the victims were Colombians," said Juan Zapata, security secretary for the capital city.

The bus, which had foreign license plates, was on a downward stretch of highway 30 kilometres east of Quito when it struck an all-terrain vehicle and overturned, slamming into three houses on the side of the road, officials said.