16 dead in Cambodian bus plunge

At least 16 Cambodians were killed and 23 others injured on Thursday after a bus plummeted off a mountain road, police said.

The victims -- mostly women in their 50s and 60s from Phnom Penh -- were on a religious tour along the Cambodia-Thailand border when the bus plunged off the Dangrek Mountains and crashed into a valley, local police chief Hing Pheung told AFP.

"Twelve people were killed at the spot and four others died in hospital," he said, adding that 23 people were injured and hospitalised.

Hin Pheung said the driver, who survived the accident with a broken leg, was "careless".

"He was driving too fast down the mountain and couldn't control the vehicle when it reached a bend, then the bus plunged into the valley," he said.

All on board the tour visiting Buddhist pagodas along the border were Cambodian.

Cambodia's roads are notoriously dangerous with more than 2,000 people killed in traffic accidents last year.

In May at least 18 Cambodian garment workers were killed and 21 injured when a bus crashed into the van transporting them to work in the eastern province of Svay Rieng.