PLUNGE!

The brakes apparently failed before the bus plummeted into a 100-foot ravine yesterday in Balamban town in Cebu province, police Senior Superintendent Erson Digal said.

The Filipino driver and bus owner and 20 Iranians died, Digal said.

The dead, which included two boys, were brought to Cebu's Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes where they were visited by grieving relatives, friends and Iranian Embassy officials, said Edgar Sanchez, the funeral parlor's director.

Embassy and school officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Wilson Feria said 26 others were injured.

Nine of an estimated 55 passengers were unaccounted for, but the military was double-checking because it was unclear exactly how many people were on board, Feria said.

Villagers and police pulled bodies from the mangled wreckage at the rocky bottom of the ravine, while a backhoe sent by a nearby Japanese shipbuilding company attempted to lift the bus up, Feria said.

Many victims were medical students in Cebu, a bustling commercial and tourism center 560 kilometers southeast of Manila. They were identified by relatives and through their IDs, Digal said.

Feria said it was not clear if the Iranians were involved in a medical mission or went for an outing at one of several resorts in and around Cebu.

Poorly maintained vehicles and roads, along with inadequate safety signs, railings, training and weak traffic law enforcement, are blamed for many deadly accidents in the Philippines.