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http://news.xin.msn.com/en/world/37-killed-in-malaysias-deadliest-road-accident-18#scpshrtu
At least 37 people are confirmed dead after a bus tumbled into a deep ravine Wednesday in Malaysia's worst-ever road accident, an official said.
The toll could climb further because 16 other passengers were injured, with hospitals reporting some in critical condition.
Authorities said the bus was carrying 53 passengers when it went off a swerving road and plunged down a steep 70-metre (200-foot) slope in the Genting Highlands, famed for a flashy gambling and entertainment resort about an hour's drive from the capital Kuala Lumpur.
"Thirty-seven are dead -- 13 women and 24 men," Christopher Chong, a fire official at the scene, told AFP by phone.
Chong said the bus was heading downhill when the driver apparently lost control on a bend. The driver was among those killed, reports said.
They said most of the passengers were Malaysians, but staff at Hospital Kuala Lumpur said injured brought there after the crash also included a Thai man and a Bangladeshi man.
Local hospitals said several of the injured arrived in critical condition.
Lines of rescuers clinging to an orange rope for support were seen pulling injured victims out of the bus shortly after the accident, which occurred around 3 p.m.
The bus was lying on its side in thick vegetation.
The rugged terrain forced rescuers to rig up an improvised pulley system to raise bodies and injured victims in a time-consuming operation, media reports said.
Police dogs also scoured the undergrowth for any survivors that may have been flung out of the bus, they said.
The road leading up the Genting Highlands is notoriously steep and winding. Police said the bus was part of a regular line that ferries visitors
between the capital and the hill resort, popular with the country's
ethnic Chinese minority and foreign tourists.
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