Driver flees after 44 die

A LORRY packed with schoolboys returning home from a football match crashed into a canal in south-eastern Bangladesh yesterday, killing 44 passengers, police said.

The driver fled and is being sought for arrest. The truck had been hired to take the boys home after they watched the tournament, police official Iftekhar Hasan said.

"The truck skidded off the muddy road and turned (over] as it plunged into the canal," said Mr Hasan.

About 60 people, mostly children between ages 8 and 12, were on the vehicle that crashed, he added.