Bus Crash Kills Seven on Rangoon-Mandalay Highway

By Wai Wai Lwin 23 December 2016

RANGOON — Seven people were killed and 38 were injured in a Thursday night traffic accident on the Rangoon-Naypyidaw-Mandalay highway.

A Mandalar Minn company bus was traveling from Naypyidaw to Rangoon when it struck a traffic island and rolled over near milepost 91 around 7:15pm. The bus was carrying 45 passengers.

The injured passengers—22 men and 16 women—were transported to Myochaung General Hospital and Pegu General Hospital. The dead included four men and three women, according to the Myanmar Fire Services Department.

The Rangoon-Naypyidaw-Mandalay highway, notorious for its high number of fatal traffic accidents, is sometimes called the Death Highway.

Through the end of November, at least 494 accidents have occurred on the highway this year, resulting in 76 deaths and 927 injuries.