13 killed in bus accident in Nepal

At least 13 people were killed Tuesday when a passenger bus fell off a mountain highway and plunged into a river in south-western Nepal, police said.

The bus, on its way from Kathmandu to Birjung on the Indian border, fell about 30 metres into the Trishuli River at Dahakhani village, about 100 kilometres south of the capital.

At least 25 others were injured in the accident, 12 of them seriously, the police said.

Police said the cause of the accident remained unclear but they suspected the driver was travelling too fast on the narrow mountain highway.

Nepal has a notoriously poor record on road safety. Hundreds of people are killed each year in bus accidents blamed mostly on careless driving and overcrowding on buses.