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23 killed in India bus crash

Other News Materials 14 October 2008 10:29 (UTC +04:00)

An overcrowded, speeding bus crashed into a stationary truck in northeastern India on Tuesday, killing 23 people and wounding 44 others, police said, reported CNN.

The bus was carrying laborers to work before dawn in the Dhubri district of India's Assam state, some 185 miles (300 kilometers) west of the state capital, Gauhati.

"The bus carrying 67 passengers hit a stationary potato-laden truck with great speed, leading to the fatalities," said Dhubri police chief Parthasarathi Mahanta.

Mahanta said the driver of the bus, which had a capacity of only 35 passengers, lost control and collided with the parked truck, reducing both vehicles to "a mass of mangled steel."

The injured have been taken to hospitals in the area, he said.

Deadly road accidents are common in India, often caused by aging vehicles, overloading and reckless driving.

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