19 die as bus falls into frozen river

Moscow – A passenger bus plunged off a bridge onto a frozen river in Siberia yesterday, killing 19 of the more than 40 people on board, authorities said.

A tyre on the bus burst as it was crossing the bridge over the Kuenga river in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region. The vehicle, which was travelling from Sretensk to Chita, skidded off the road onto the ice. “Nineteen people died and 21 were injured,” the office of the governor of the Zabaikalsky region said.