Ob incredulous question:
Nothing new here, but: 53, plus the driver. What was the capacity, anyway? As well, while there is nothing in the wire reports about it, were punji spikes involved in any way?

   HANOI, Sept 20 (Reuter) - Thirty-three people were killed and 20 injured, five seriously, after a packed bus plunged from a mountain pass in central Vietnam into the sea, local officials said on Saturday.

   Police said the bus had been carrying at least 53 people when it swerved off the road on Friday morning during a storm and crashed seven metres (23 feet) down a slope into water that was eight metres (27 feet) deep.    The accident occurred in central Phu Yen province, in a mountainous area to the north of the resort town of Nha Trang, as the bus headed north from Ho Chi Minh City.

   Officer Nguyen Duc Giao said the bus driver had asked passengers to close windows because of driving rain, which prevented people from escaping.    "People died in the panic to get out, not the crash itself," he said, adding that two children aged seven and three were among the dead.

   The cause of the accident was under investigation and the driver, who fled the scene, was being sought.

(c) Reuters

55 FEARED DEAD AS CROWDED BUS PLUNGES
INTO CANAL NEAR DHAKA

DHAKA -- At least 55 people were feared killed as an overcrowded private bus with about 150 passengers plunged into an irrigation canal on the outskirts of Dhaka early Friday, rescuers and witnesses said.

Police said many people were killed as they were trapped inside the bus which sank in deep water. About 40 people on the roof and others hitchhiking on the bumper were among those who survived the accident in Demra, an eastern suburb of the capital city.

A rescue worker said the death toll was expected to rise.

Abul Hasan, a survivor, said the accident on the Dhaka-Demra highway took place in thick fog. Passengers on the bus were mostly vegetable traders taking the early morning transport to Dhaka’s central market.

The driver lost control after a tyre burst, police said, adding that the bus was carrying more than double its capacity.Witnesses said fire service driver recovered at least 21 bodies while 34 others remained untraced.

February 2, 1995
Deutsche Presse-Agentur

KUALA LUMPUR - Seventeen people were killed and 15 injured when a bus plunged into a ravine at a mountain resort near Kuala Lumpur on Monday, the national Bernama news agency said.

The bus was ferrying 32 passengers down a winding road from Genting Highlands in heavy rain when it veered off the road into the 120-metre (400 ft) deep ravine, snapping in two. The resort is operated by Resorts World Bhd, a subsidiary of Genting Bhd. It is located about 60 km (40 miles) outside the capital Kuala Lumpur. The bus was carrying workers from a plastics factory in Johor Baru, in southern Johor state, back to their hometown after an overnight outing at the hill resort, Bernama said.

All the passengers were believed to be Malaysian. Resorts said in a statement the accident occurred at about 1 p.m. (0500 GMT) when the private bus hit the embankment at a bend about 1-1/2 km (a mile) from the Resort hilltop and fell into a ravine.

"Genting Highlands Resort is assisting the police and bomba (firefighters) to carry out the rescue operations and to provide medical assistance," said the statement by Resorts deputy chairman Mohammed Hanif Omar.

Following the news, Genting shares dropped to a new year low of 18.80 ringgit, before recovering slightly to closing off 30 cents to 18.90 ringgit. Resorts stock closed at a new year low of 13.30, off 30 cents.

The accident was the second in a little over a year on the route leading to the Genting peak, 1,800 m (5,900 ft) above sea level.

In June last year 21 tourists were killed and 22 injured when a massive landslide during heavy rains buried vehicles travelling on a different road leading to the resort.

July 15 ©Reuters

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.

MEXICO CITY – A speeding bus plunged down a 600-foot (200 metre) ravine in central Mexico on Wednesday, killing up to 17 passengers and injuring 23 others, the state news agency Notimex said.

It said the Omnibus de Mexico veered off of the widely traveled highway between Mexico and the US border in the central state of Hidalgo, some 125 miles north of the capital.

The road winds through perilous, fog-covered mountains, and Notimex quoted Hidalgo state governor secretary Juan Carlos Calderon as saying that the bus failed to make a curve and plunged down the canyon due to "an excess of speed."

He said many of the injured were seriously hurt. The driver of the bus was missing, Notimex reported.

Reuters

BEIJING, March 26 - An unexpected thaw in Arctic conditions sent nine Mongolians to their death when their bus fell through ice into a deep river, Xiahua reported Thursday.

The nine, comprising six adults and three children, were driving on the frozen Seleage River in northern Mongolia on March 18 when a disaster struck, the news agency said.

The thick ice cracked, plunging the bus into the three-metre (10 feet) deep river, and all nine drowned almost immediately.

Mongolia's winter conditions are normally so harsh that frozen rivers are commonly used as roads.

Agence France, Presse

NEW DELHI, Sept 17 (Reuter) - More than two dozen people were believed to have died on Wednesday when a bus plunged off a bridge into the sea in southeastern India, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

The news agency quoted witnesses as saying the driver of the state-owned bus apparently lost control of the vehicle when it reached the top of the windswept bridge in Tamil Nadu state.

PTI quoted police as saying three passengers including the conductor were rescued. More people might have died if the accident had occurred during the day, the police added.