Malaysia bus crash kills 19, injures 10

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 (Reuters) A Malaysian express bus crashed early today killing 19 people and injuring 10, police said, in one of the country's worst road accidents.

The bus smashed through a road barrier and plunged into a ditch five metres deep along the country's main highway near Taiping town in the northern state of Perak, police said.

''So far 19 people have died and 10 others injured,'' Taiping police chief Raja Musa Raja Razak said by telephone.

''One of the dead was an Indonesian working in Malaysia. We are still checking the identities of the remaining bodies.'' News agency Bernama said the dead comprised 12 males and seven females.

In the last major accident, 17 people were killed in 1990 when a police bus collided with several vehicles.

Malaysia, with 26 million people and a large number of cars, has one of the world's worst road accident rates. On average, 17 people die each day.

REUTERS RJ VC0900