Students killed in southern Albania bus crash

GlobalPost

At least 11 people have been killed and 22 others injured after a bus fell off a mountain cliff in southern Albania on Monday and plunged hundreds of feet into a ravine.

According to the Associated Press, the bus was one of two vehicles carrying 75 third-year students from Aleksander Xhuvani University in the city of Elbasan on a pre-graduation trip to the southern city of Saranda.

Police spokeswoman Klejda Plangarica told the news agency that one of the buses fell off the road near the town of Himare, 220 kilometers south of the capital, Tirana. The driver of the bus is believed to be among the dead.

Ambulances and rescue helicopters were deployed to the crash site and rescuers were working Monday to free students who may have been trapped inside the bus, located at the bottom of a deep ravine, according to CNN.

Some of the injured are reportedly in a critical condition, and have been flown to a hospital in Tirana. There are fears that the death toll from the accident could rise, the BBC reports. A police investigation is now underway. 

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