Six killed, 47 hurt as bus crashes on Dominican beach outing

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic: Six people on a beach excursion in the Dominican Republic died and 47 were injured when their bus lost its brakes and crashed overnight, civil defense authorities said Monday.

Rescue teams said the driver lost control of the yellow bus, of the kind used to transport school children, near the town of San Victor in the country’s north.

All on board were adults on an outing to a beach about a two-hour drive away.

Official data shows that nearly 900 people have lost their lives in traffic accidents so far this year in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

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According to the World Bank, the Dominican road accident mortality rate is double the regional average and one of the highest globally, mainly due to poor road maintenance.

Menawhile, at least 19 people were killed as a Bangladesh air force training aircraft crashed into a college and school campus in the capital city of Dhaka on Monday, a fire services official said.

More than 50 people, including children and adults, were hospitalised with burns, a doctor at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery told reporters.

The incident occurred at the Milestone School and College in Dhaka’s northern area of Uttara, officials said.

“Bangladesh Air Force’s F-7 BGI training aircraft crashed in Uttara. The aircraft took off at 13:06 (0706 GMT),” the military’s public relations department said in a statement.