Papua New Guinea bus crash 'kills 24'

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A bus crash in Papua New Guinea has left at least 24 people dead, local media report.

The bus was said to have fallen off a cliff in Papua New Guinea's Western Highlands, and plunged over 50m into a river bed.

17 men, six women and a five-year-old girl are thought to be among the dead.

The group was said to be travelling from Baiyer district to Mount Hagen to pick up the coffin of a villager who had died.

A local police commander described the crash as the country's "worst road accident involving a public motor vehicle", The National newspaper reported.

A local ward councillor, Kuri Rani, told The National newspaper that the victims were from Baiyer's Epika tribe.

"It's a big loss to the rest of my tribesmen," he said.

"We were all travelling into town to pick up a casket and didn't know such a thing would happen."