At least 14 people were killed and 38 others injured on Friday when a passenger bus plunged into a river in central Nepal, local media reported.

According to Dhading district police office, the passenger bus heading for the capital from Birgunj skidded off the road, some 50km southwest of Kathmandu, and plunged into the Mahesh river Friday morning, reported eKantipur.com website.

Some of the injured are undergoing treatment at a local medical, while over two dozen passengers, who have been critically injured, are undergoing treatment at Bir Hospital in the capital Kathmandu.

(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2008)