Bangladesh (Reuters) - A bus carrying scores of Bangladeshi schoolboys celebrating a soccer victory against another school plunged off a hill road on Monday killing at least 53, police said.
The accident happened at Mirersarai, 240 km (150 miles) southeast of the capital Dhaka, near the port of Chittagong.
Survivors told reporters at the hospital that the children were in a happy mood, singing and dancing, when the bus crashed 50 feet into a flooded ditch. The weather was cloudy after days of rain.
Police and witnesses said that as many as 80 children between eight and 12 were on board. Local official Giasuddin Ahmed said 53 bodies had been recovered and 15 injured boys were taken to hospital, including 10 in critical condition.
A father of one of the victims died of heart attack after seeing his body, police said. Hundreds of parents and relatives thronged the accident site and the hospital, witnesses said.
Road accidents happen frequently in Bangladesh due to poor roads, poorly serviced vehicles and rarely enforced traffic laws.