The bus was carrying around 40 passengers from central Bago province when it plunged off a highway near Myawaddy, a town on the Thai border, on Friday.

“Nineteen people were killed and 21 people were injured, while a few people were lucky to live,” Kyi Lin, the chief of police in Karen state, told AFP.

“(The bus) fell down into a narrow and deep gorge,” he said, adding that police believe the driver lost control of the bus because of a brake failure.

Police and local aid groups have brought the injured to nearby hospitals for urgent care and are making funeral arrangements for the dead, he added.

A hospital in Mae Sot, the Thai town across the border, took in seven patients from the crash who were in “critical condition,” amedical worker told AFP.