At least 13 children killed in Nepal road crash

KATHMANDU, May 9 (Reuters) At least 13 children were killed in Nepal today when a bus carrying about 25 students plunged into an irrigation canal on the way to school, police said.

The accident occurred in Sunsari, about 500 km (300 miles) east of the capital, Kathmandu.

''We have recovered 13 bodies so far,'' a police officer told Reuters by phone from Inaruwa, a town near to the crash site.

Witnesses said about 300 people had gathered outside a hospital where grief-stricken parents and relatives received the bodies of their dead children.

''It is a very sad and pathetic scene here. Grieving relatives are crying and beating their chest with their hands,'' hospital official Madhav Prasad Yadav said.

Police said nine children had been taken to nearby hospitals.

Bhim Ghimire, a journalist, said rescuers were looking for at least another three children. The cause of the accident was not known.

REUTERS OM RK1538