ISLAMABAD – In a separate accident a bus packed with a wedding party, including the bride and groom, fell 18 meters (60 feet) killing 18 people and critically wounding another 12 people, including the groom, the state-run news agency reported.

The accident occurred about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the federal capital of Islamabad.

Quoting eyewitnesses, The Associated Press of Pakistan said the driver of thebus fell asleep. The bus sped out of control and plunged off the road into aditch, The APP reported. The driver was among the dead.

There are no reliable statistics on fatal accidents in Pakistan but bus accidents occur almost daily. Police reports often blame the driver, who usually has lost control of the vehicle because he was speeding. Bus drivers often receive a bonus if they reach their destination early.

September 17, 1995 © Calgary Herald

LIMA, Peru, Aug 13 (Reuter) - Fourteen passengers died and 28 were injured when a minibus fell over a precipice in Peru's central jungle, police said on Tuesday. They said initial investigations showed the driver fell asleep before his vehicle went over a 330-foot (100 m) drop near the village of Llacta in the region of Huanuco, 260 miles (420 km) north of Lima. Most of the victims were traveling from Lima to Llacta for local festivities.

The accident late on Monday was the latest in a string of minibus crashes in Peru's rugged interior that have brought calls for an urgent revision of public transport safety.

LIMA, Peru - A bus plunged 1,200 feet down a mountainside Tuesday, killing at least 42 people. Police said the driver had fallen asleep during a torrential rainstorm.

Thirty-two people were injured in the accident, which occurred near the town of Tarma in the Andean mountains,120 miles northeast of Lima, according to Dr. Prospero Najarro, who helped rescue the victims.

QUITO, Ecuador – An overloaded bus plummeted off a road in southern Ecuador, killing twenty people and leaving 17 injured, police said Saturday.

The Friday accident occurred on a highway between the cities of Caluma and Guaranda, 94 miles south of the capital Quito in the Andes mountains. The bus, which had a capacity of 45 passengers, was carrying 60, police said.

Police have not determined the cause of the accident but surviving passengers attributed it to driver error. "The driver was acting strangely before the crash, like he was sleeping," passenger Pedro Ipiales told a local television station.

Most of the passengers were local farmers. The driver of the bus was among those killed.

Associated Press