Sri Lanka bus crash kills 21 pilgrims

An overcrowded bus carrying dozens of Buddhist pilgrims plummeted into a precipice in Sri Lanka on Sunday, killing at least 21 and injuring 24, a senior transport official said.

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The island nation’s winding roads are among the most dangerous in the world, and the crash off a cliffside road on Sunday was among the deadliest recorded in Sri Lanka in decades.

The roof and side panels of the bus were sheared off, and more than half the seats were ripped from the floor of the vehicle, which landed wheels up into a tea plantation, photos of the wreckage showed.

The state-owned bus was carrying around 70 passengers - about 20 more than its capacity - through the central hilly region of Kotmale, when the driver lost control and it veered off the road before dawn, police said.