India bus collision kills 40

At least 40 people have been killed in a bus crash in the eastern state of West Bengal in India.

A police spokesman said the passenger bus caught fire after a head-on collision with a truck carrying inflammable material.

The bus was travelling to Calcutta from Orissa

The collision occurred 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal state.

The bus was on its way to Calcutta from neighbouring Orissa state.

West Bengal police spokesman Narayan Chandra Ghosh said the bus and the truck carrying fuel - both travelling at very high speed - collided at Panchla on a highway that connects Calcutta with the rest of the country.

Mr Ghosh said the bus fell into a deep ditch.

He said 40 bodies had been recovered and at least 15 passengers had been hospitalised, many in a critical condition.

Poorly maintained

Buses are a popular means of transport in rural India.

But many of them are poorly maintained and frequently overcrowded.

Last year, there were many similar incidents.

• In November when at least 21 people died in the state of Madhya Pradesh, when their overcrowded bus caught fire, burning many alive.

• In June, at least 25 people were killed in northern India when a bus carrying pilgrims to a Himalayan shrine went out of control and plunged into a mountain river.

• In another accident in May, at least 46 people were killed in the eastern state of West Bengal when a bus carrying office workers veered off the road into a pond.