KATHMANDU: A speeding bus plunged off a mountain road in western Nepal into a deep ravine on Tuesday killing 10 people, police said—the latest in a string of deadly accidents on the country's highways.

The driver lost control on a sharp bend on the main route heading east from the city of Mahendranagar, on the country's western border with India, 700 kilometres west of the capital Kathmandu.

“A micro-bus carrying 17 passengers slipped away from the road and fell 400 metres down below the hill, resulting in the death of 10 people on the spot,” Doti district deputy police superintendent Bharat Bahadur Bohara told AFP.

“The accident occurred on the hilly road because of excess speed,” Bohara said, adding that the seven other passengers were being treated in hospital.

Road accidents are relatively common in Nepal, due to poor surfaces, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

In October last year, 41 people were killed when an overloaded bus fell from a mountain road into a swollen river in eastern Nepal.

Official figures showed 1,734 road fatalities in 2010, roughly doubling over a decade.