13 February,2009 04:55 PM IST | | PTI
At least 12 college students and teachers returning from a picnic were killed as a bus carrying them fell into a 300-feet gorge in southeastern Bangladesh.
"Six of them died instantly while the rest succumbed to their wounds in hospitals at Bandarban and Chittagong," a police official said.
He added that over a dozen others were being treated at the hospital with critical injuries as the bus carrying 50 passengers yesterday skidded off the hill road while they were returning to Chittagong after a picnic.
Some 250 economics department students and teachers of Chittagong Government College in five buses were returning from a picnic when the accident happened.
"It appeared to be miraculous that many of the passengers survived with minor injuries after the bus fell into the deep ditch . . . thanks to the big trees and bushes that reduced the speed of the falling vehicle as it rolled down the hills," a local said.
Police said two bodies still remained trapped inside the wreckage, while fire service rescuers joined army troops and police to retrieve them after rescuing over 30 injured with helps of local residents.
