October 10, 2008
BANGKOK (AFP) - At least 22 people were killed and 27 injured Friday when a bus carrying university students fell down a ravine in eastern Thailand, the public health ministry said.
"There are 22 people dead and 27 injured with mostly broken limbs," the ministry said in a statement.
"The accident may have been caused by the driver, who is presumed killed," local police officer Major Akkapark Jitprayoon told AFP.
He said police suspected the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. The charter bus was carrying students from a technology university in northeastern Khon Kaen province.
They were on a field trip travelling to the coastal province of Chantaburi when the accident happened at 3:30 am (2030 GMT Thursday), 135 kilometres (83 miles) east of Bangkok, police said.
The injured passengers were taken to five nearby hospitals, the provincial health authority said.
