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Fifteen tourists killed as bus crashes in Philippinesâ€Ž

14 June 2010 15:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. At least 15 tourists including Iranians and Pakistanis were killed when their bus fell into a ravine in the Philippines on Sunday, police said, DAWN.com reported.

Many people were also injured as the bus, carrying as many as 70 holidaymakers and local guides, fell into a deep ravine on the central island of Cebu, said police spokesman Arden Trocio.

Officers at the scene reported that 15 bodies had been pulled from the wreckage, including the Filipino driver and two foreign children, said Trocio.

Most of the other fatalities were from Iran or Pakistan, he said, although there was still no breakdown of their nationalities. The Iranian and Pakistani embassies could not be contacted for comment.

Regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Wilson Feria said four air force helicopters ferried the dead and at least 31 injured passengers to a military camp in Cebu city, where they were picked up by ambulance vans then brought to hospitals.

An unspecified number of passengers were still pinned in the wreckage, Digal said. A Japanese shipbuilding company in Balamban has offered to send a crane to help lift the bus so those pinned underneath and in the wreckage can be retrieved, Feria 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.