About 20 passengers were injured when a double-decker tour bus collided with a car before plunging into a forested ravine 50 metres below in Wichien Buri district of the central province of Phetchabun province on Sunday.

Some of the passengers were trapped inside the bus and rescue workers had to use machine tools to cut through mangled iron sheets and rods to free them before rushing them  to nearby hospitals.

All the injured were taken to Wichien Buri, Bung Samphan and Nong Phai in Phetchabun and Pakdee Chumphol hospital in Chaiyaphum for medical treatment.

Rescue workers said that the scene of the accident in Ban Nam Om, Tambon Yang Sao, was a narrow mountainous road and was prone to accidents.