International Hot

Source: AFP

Date: 21/03/16

The scene of the bus accident in the Murcia region Photo: Marcial Guillen/EPA

Fourteen people have died after a coach plunged into a ravine in southeastern Spain, in the worst such accident in the country for 13 years, officials said Sunday.

The coach left the road and plunged into a ravine in the Murcia region just before midnight Saturday.  It was carrying passengers to their home village of Bullas back from the capital Madrid, where according to media they had been to a church ceremony.

The coach crashed on the final stretch of the 400-kilometre journey, 50 kilometres from the village of 12,000 people.

The driver was charged with homicide and negligence, the prefect of the region, Joaquin Bascunana, told the media, adding that it was thought the bus was travelling too fast.The driver and his colleague tested negative for drugs and alcohol, he said.

Ten of those on board, including Bullas's local priest, died in the crash and four others died later in hospital, the regional government said. A further 28 people were injured, 10 of them seriously.

It was the worst coach accident in Spain since 2001, when 19 retirees died in a crash near Huelva in the southwest of the country.