17 school students killed in Indonesian road accident

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JAKARTA: As many as 17 Indonesian students  were killed and five others injured Thursday (today) after a truck carrying them to school overturned into a ditch on western Sumatra island, police said.

The truck carrying around 30 students flipped over into the muddy ditch near a palm oil plantation after one of its wheels came off, local police official said.

The age of the students involved in the accident in Tapanuli district was not clear. Most were thought to attend junior high school and high school, where pupils are typically aged between 12 and 18.

The driver survived, he added.