Philippine bus falls in creek; 5 dead, 49 injured

A passenger bus plunged into a creek in a mountainous region southeast of the Philippine capital early Sunday, killing five people and injuring 49.

Police and firefighters struggled in the dark for several hours as they pulled the dead and injured from the overturned bus at the bottom of the creek in Quezon province's Pagbilao township, police said.

The bus lost its brakes and plummeted into the creek while most passengers slept midway through a night trip from central Tacloban city to Quezon city in the capital, according to Quezon provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Erickson Velasquez.

Poorly maintained vehicles and roads, along with …