DHAKA, Jan 7: Nearly 33 Bangladeshis were killed and scores injured on Monday when a bus overturned and fell into a roadside ditch at Aminbazar, 16 kms from capital Dhaka, police and witnesses said.

“The driver apparently lost control while trying to climb a bridge at high speed. The bus plunged more than 30 feet (10 metres) into the ditch full of water,” a police officer said.

Witnesses said most of the bodies had been pulled out of the wrecked bus by fire fighters, police and volunteers.

Survivors said the bus was coming to Dhaka from Manikganj, 90 kms north of the capital.

“It was overloaded and skidded into the ditch killing nearly 30 passengers. Many were injured and taken to nearby hospitals,” one said.

Police could not immediately say how many people were travelling in the bus or whether the driver had been killed.—Reuters