14 dead as schoolbus falls into ravine

A bus carrying junior high school students and their teachers plunged into a ravine on Indonesia's main island of Java today, leaving 14 dead and 48 in hospital - some in critical condition - police said.

The driver lost control when the bus passed another vehicle and hit three cars and two motorbikes near the West Java town of Cipanas, and the bus fell into a 30-foot-deep ravine, said Capt. Basuki of the local police.

He said that 10 were killed instantly. Another student died on the way to the hospital and three more in the facility's emergency unit, he said.

Many of the injured had broken bones and cuts, and 26, including the driver, were in critical condition, Basuki said.

Basuki said the bus was one of 15 carrying hundreds of junior high school students, their teachers and parents to an outing at the popular tourist destination of Cibodas, in a mountainous part of West Java province.

Cipanas is about 95 miles south-east of the capital, Jakarta.