Bus crash kills 27 in Myanmar

The Straits Time
January 21, 2008

YANGON - A BUS plunged off a highway and down a hill in southern Myanmar over the weekend killing 27 passengers and injuring 10 more, a state newspaper reported on Monday.

The bus was travelling between the economic hub Yangon to Mon State in the southeast on Sunday morning when it veered off the road and plummeted three metres, the Myanmar-language Mirror newspaper said.

'Altogether 11 men, 15 women and a Buddhist monk were killed and 10 others were injured in the accident,' the paper said.

It gave no further details about the cause of the crash, which happened 100 kilometres from Yangon.

Myanmar, one of the world's poorest countries, depends on old cars and buses for transport as the military government has restricted vehicle imports from abroad, and safety standards are often poor.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962, and sanctions by the United States and Europe coupled with fiscal mismanagement during decades of military rule have battered its once-promising economy. -- AFP