14 killed as bus crashes into trench in Indonesia

A passenger bus has plunged from a hill into a trench in Indonesia's Sumatra island, killing 14 people.

The bus was carrying some 65 people from North Sumatra to Bengkulu on Saturday when it slid down into a wide ditch filled with water, the Antara news agency reported Sunday.

Rescuers found 14 people dead and another 49 alive. Antara says rescuers were searching the mostly submerged wreckage in South Tapanuli regency for other victims.

The agency quoted Lt. Col. Nainggolan of the local police as saying the bus was apparently too heavy, causing it to fail as it tried to climb the hill.

Overcrowding and poor safety standards are main causes of many fatal transportation accidents in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands.

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