The truck, crammed with 72 people, was heading to a festival at the Shwesettaw Pagoda in Magway division, 430 kilometres north of the economic hub Yangon, the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

The accident was blamed on faulty brakes, the paper said, without providing further details.

Myanmar, one of the world's poorest countries, depends on old cars and buses for transport as the military government has restricted vehicle imports from abroad. Safety standards are often poor. -- AFP