A packed passenger bus negotiating a downhill curve plunged off a Philippine mountain highway into a 100-foot (30-meter) ravine Wednesday, killing 40 people, police said. Ten people, including a 10-year-old boy, survived and nine were taken to hospitals, said police chief Wilben Mayor of Benguet province north of Manila. Mayor said most of the victims were pinned to death while others were thrown out as the bus tumbled down. He said 39 bodies were recovered from the twisted wreckage. Emergency workers were trying to extricate another body that remained pinned near the bus engine more than six hours later, he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
