KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- A bus carrying dozens of illegal immigrants from Myanmar crashed into a ravine in northern Malaysia, killing five of them and a Malaysian, police said Wednesday.

An immigration officer, the driver and 43 other illegal immigrants were injured -- 11 of them seriously -- in Tuesday's crash in the northern state of Kedah, a police officer said.

The dead Malaysian was the driver's assistant, he said speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Local newspapers published pictures of the wreckage, showing the front portion of the bus mangled and its roof ripped off -- reminiscent of a crash last month that killed 22 people in what was described as the country's worst bus crash ever.

Tuesday's tragedy happened when the bus skidded and landed in a ravine 30 kilometers (20 miles) after leaving a detention camp. The illegal immigrants were being moved from that camp to another near the Thai border, the police officer said.

Tens of thousands of refugees from Myanmar are estimated to live in Malaysia, which is not a signatory to a United Nations convention on refugees and classifies them as illegal immigrants who can be detained, caned and deported.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which is allowed to operate in the country, currently recognizes some 36,000 refugees, most of them from Myanmar, but thousands more seek refugee status.