Vietnamese pilgrim bus crashes in Texas, at least 12 dead

WASHINGTON — A bus chartered by Vietnamese pilgrims crashed in Texas on Friday, killing at least 12 people and injured more than 26, local media reported.
There were 55 people in the bus, drove off a major highway overpass bridge shortly after midnight and crashed below near the town of Tyler, some 96 kilometers (60 miles) north of Dallas.Sherman police spokesman Robert Fair told in an interview that at least 12 people were killed in the crash."We are being told that a tire on the bus had blown," Fair told. "We shall continue our investigation to see if other factors were involved."The accident took place around 12:45 am Friday (0545 GMT), the Sherman Herald-Democrat reported, adding that the bus was lying on its right side.That was a wrong track.A large section of the highway was closed down as ambulances and at least 13 helicopters rushed to the scene to ferry the wounded to Dallas area hospitals, the newspaper reported.Dozens of passengers were injured, Fair told in interview, while the Dallas Morning News put the number at at least 26."We've got ambulances and helicopters from all over the county," Fair told the newspaper.The Morning News, quoting local TV, said the group from the Vietnamese Martyrs Church of Houston was on the way to an annual celebration in honor of the Virgin Mary in the city of Carthage, in Missouri.

47 dead, 100 missing in Congo boat accident

Twenty-seven people are known to have survived, said Mathieu Modeste Bella, district commissioner of North Ubangi province in the far north of the central African country.
The boat was carrying at least 182 passengers, mostly merchants but also women and children, Bella said. It sank Tuesday night after it left the Congo town of Mobayi Bongo, 700 miles northeast of Congo's capital, Kinshasa. It was navigating the Ubangi river, headed for the Central African Republic, which shares a border with Congo. Bella said 47 bodies had been recovered. "The rest of the passengers, more than 100, have disappeared," Bella said. "We do not know what happened to them." Because of bad roads, many people in the area prefer to take small boats even if they do not know how to swim. KINSHASA, Congo - At least 47 people died when a motorized boat sank on a river in Congo, and more than 100 people are missing, a district official said Friday.

Bus, train collide in Egypt, 31 killed

37 people also injured in crash

CAIRO, Egypt - A train and bus collided in Egypt, killing 31 people and injuring 37, security officials said.
Earlier, a security official said the train plowed into three vehicles in a northern town. The incident took place Wednesday near the Mediterranean city of Marsa Matrouh, 270 miles northwest of the capital, Cairo, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. Road accidents are very common in Egypt due to poor enforcement of traffic laws and bad roads. Police estimate traffic incidents kill about 6,000 people annually.