14 killed, 38 hurt in Manila bus accident

At least 14 college students on a camping trip died while 38 others were injured after bus smashed a lamp post near Manila.

Among those hurt was the severely injured bus driver, according to Carlos Inofre, chief of the town's Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office told the local media.

The passenger bus, with a little over 50 people on board, rammed into an electric post along a highway in Tanay, about 38km east of Manila, on Monday.

Inofre said all the fatalities are students from a college in suburban Quezon City.

The bus appeared to have suffered a brake malfunction while negotiating a downward-winding road in the village of Sampaloc, Inofre said.

"The bus could have been running fast when it hit the post since its roof was almost detached" Inofre told a local radio station.

The victims were supposed to join in a camping tour at a resort in Tanay as part of their school activities.