PYAY TOWNSHIP, Bago Division — Five people have died and 40 more have been injured after a bus plunged off a hill on the Pyay-Taungup highway around 10 p.m. on Tuesday.
Police reported the Ye Aung Lan highway bus driving from Taungup Township in Rakhine State to Pyay Township in Bago Division along the Rakhine Yoma mountain range was speeding and alleged the driver was intoxicated.
The casualties included a 61-year-old man, 60-year-old woman, 65-year-old woman, 20-year-old girl, and 50-year-old woman, all from Taungup.
Twenty-five men and 15 women were injured and are now receiving treatment in Pyay, Taungup, and Oke Chit Pin hospitals.
U Phone Kyaw, supervisor of coach station Shwe Mhan Yadanar in Taungup, said the driver’s thigh broke in the accident.
“Rescue efforts were underway since 2 a.m. We could rescue them much quicker because of volunteer groups,” he said.
Three of the bodies were removed from the crash site during the night and the remaining two were removed between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Wednesday, he said.
Traffic police officer U Kyaw Hla Aung opened the case at Oke Chit Pin police station in Bago Division against driver U Khaing Mg Lin under Penal Code sections 304(a) for causing death by negligence, 337 and 338 for causing hurt and grievous hurt by an act endangering the safety of others.
Article 304(a) carries up to ten years imprisonment, Article 338 up to five years and Article 337 up to two years.
