Nine Russians dead as bus crashes in Latvia
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-31 20:59

RIGA - At least nine Russians were killed and dozens injured in a bus accident in Latvia, the Baltic country's state rescue service reported.

Police said the two-storey bus with 65 people on board -- a stewardess, two drivers and 62 passengers -- was at traveling at high speed on an icy road and overturned and hit trees at about 5am in the district of Jekabpils in eastern Latvia, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the capital Riga.

"The coach was on the way from Moscow to Riga. Passengers were mostly residents of Russia and came to Latvia to celebrate New Year," Solveiga Smiltene, spokeswoman of the state rescue service, told AFP.

"Nine people have died, 24 are in local hospitals," she said.

"At least two of the injured are in critical condition and were taken to hospital in Riga," Martins Sics, director of the Catastrophe and Medicine center, told AFP. "Doctors fear for their lives."

"Twenty nine lightly injured passengers came to Riga by other buses, 16 of them received medical help," Sics said.

"It is one of the most serious accidents for many years," Sics said.

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