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Children die in Nepal bus crash Children die in Nepal bus crash
(about 2 hours later)
A crowded bus has veered off a highway in southern Nepal, killing more than 20 people, most of them schoolchildren, police have said. A crowded bus has veered off a highway in southern Nepal, killing at least 22 people, most of them schoolchildren, police have said.
The bus, which was returning from a picnic, went off the road near Mukundapur, some 200km (125 miles) southwest of the capital Kathmandu. The bus, which was returning from a picnic, went off the road near Mukundapur, some 200km (125 miles) south-west of the capital Kathmandu.
At least 57 more people were injured in the incident. At least 57 more people were hurt and police fear the death toll could rise.
Road accidents are common in Nepal and claim hundreds of lives every year. There are no speed limits on highways.Road accidents are common in Nepal and claim hundreds of lives every year. There are no speed limits on highways.
A police officer told AFP news agency that the bus was carrying around 80 children - most of them aged nine or 10 - when the incident happened late on Thursday. Police officers in the Chitwan area told the BBC the bus was one of two ferrying a large party of children and teachers back from a school picnic late on Thursday night.
It was also carrying a number of teachers escorting them back from the picnic. Travelling along the country's main highway, the bus fell off a bridge, plunging 25 metres into a river.
"The bus was speeding and overturned, then fell 50ft (15m) off the road," Kal Bahadur Gurung said. Most of the injured are being treated in the nearby town of Bharatpur, where the school is, but some have been flown to the capital.
The injured were being treated in several hospitals, the police said. The police said the driver had escaped and was missing.
They said the two buses appeared to have been racing each other.
The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says fatal road accidents are grimly common in Nepal, not just in the mountains but, as here, in the plains too.
The standard of driving is poor and few rules of the road are observed, he says.