A tour bus in southern Taiwan plunged off the road
and into a ravine killing 22 people on board and injuring 24 others, an
emergency official and media said late on Sunday.
The bus, carrying 46 passengers, crashed through a concrete barrier on the
side of the road and fell 30 metres (yards) into a ravine in southern Tainan
County, according to cable TV station TVBS.
"The driver said that the brakes failed," an emergency official said. "The
road there is very narrow, but we still don't know the exact cause of the
accident."
The passengers were members of a parents' association from a elementary
school in southern Kaohsiung and were on an outing when the accident happened,
the official said, adding that it was unclear how many children were among the
dead and injured.
TVBS had earlier reported four children had been killed.
All the injured had been taken to neighbouring hospitals, the official said.
Television footage showed the crushed wreckage of the green bus astride a
small creek at the bottom of the steep ravine.
