Fourteen people were killed and 22 injured when a bus carrying old-age pensioners crashed into a ravine near Santa Comba Dao in central Portugal. The bus was taking the passengers back from a holy sanctuary at Fatima when the accident occurred.
The 38-seat bus fell into the ravine as it was exiting a bridge over the river Dao. More than 100 firemen, police and ambulance crews worked at the scene of the accident, where the wreckage of the upturned bus lay in a tennis court near smashed guard rails by the side of the twisting mountain road.
This latest accident comes three weeks after a bus and two cars fell into the river Douro when a 115-year-old bridge in northern Portugal collapsed, killing some 70 people. Portugal has one of Europe's highest rates of fatal traffic accidents.
