Twenty-two illegal immigrants were injured in eastern Turkey on Saturday as the bus they were traveling on plunged into a stream, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

The bus which was on its way from the neighboring Van province to Bitlis province with 27 passengers from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia, plunged into the stream, injuring 22 of them.

The injured have been rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment, with eight of them in critical conditions, the report said.

Turkey has often been used as a springboard by illegal immigrants from the Mideast and Asia to go to Europe.

Source: Xinhua