Bus crash kills 15, mostly Iranians

CEBU (Updated 4:59 p.m.) -- A tourist bus packed with Iranian nationals plunged into a ravine Sunday while negotiating a mountain road in Balamban town in Cebu, killing at least 15 people, a police official said.

The bus carrying dozens of mostly Iranian tourists apparently lost its brakes then plummeted into a 100-foot (30-meter) ravine at the Trancentral Highway in Balamban, killing its Filipino driver and a tourist guide and several passengers, police Senior Superintendent Erson Digal said.

Villagers and police pulled at least 10 bodies from the mangled bus wreckage at the rocky bottom of the ravine. Several seriously injured passengers were brought to hospitals, Digal told The Associated Press from the crash scene.

"There are at least 10 bodies laid before me now," he said by telephone, adding that air force helicopters would bring the bodies to a military camp for identification.

An unspecified number of passengers were still pinned in the wreckage, he said.

Poorly maintained vehicles and roads, along with inadequate safety signs, railings, training and weak traffic law enforcement are blamed for many deadly accidents in the Philippines. (AP/Sunnex)