25 killed, 35 injured as bus falls into gorge in India

At least 25 people were killed and 35 others injured, some of them critically, Thursday after a bus carrying them fell into a 500-metre gorge in northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, police said.

The remains of a bus carrying some 50 passengers are seen after it fell into a 150-metre (500-foot) gorge near Banjar, in the mountainous Kullu district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh on June 20, 2019. [Photo: STR / AFP]

The accident took place in mountainous Banjar area of Kullu district, about 168 km north of Shimla, the capital city of Himachal Pradesh.

"Today a bus carrying passengers fell into a 500-metre deep gorge at village Banjar here. So far, 25 people were killed and 35 others injured in the accident," Superintendent of Police Kullu, Shalini Agnihotri told Xinhua.

"The accident took place at 4:00 p.m. (local time) and our teams immediately rushed to the spot to carry out rescue work of taking injured to hospitals."

According to Agnihotri, the private bus plying on an inter-district route was carrying local passengers from Banjar to Gadagushani area in Kullu.

"Since it was a bus plying on local route, all the victims might be locals," Agnihotri said. "The bodies have been retrieved from the gorge and now they will be identified accordingly."

Himachal Pradesh is a tourist destination.

Local residents help accident survivors cross a river after a bus carrying some 50 passengers fell into a 150-metre (500-foot) gorge near Banjar, in the mountainous Kullu district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh on June 20, 2019. [Photo: STR / AFP]

The rescue efforts were going on until the last reports poured in, police said.

Officials fear the death toll was likely to increase for critical conditions of some of the injured.

According to officials 60 people were onboard at the time of accident.

Reports said some of the passengers were sitting on the roof of the bus, when it fell into the gorge.

Police have registered a case and ordered investigations to ascertain reasons behind the accident.

Earlier in the morning, seven children went missing and 22 others were rescued alive after a vehicle carrying them plunged into a canal in Uttar Pradesh.

Deadly road accidents are common in India, due to overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.

Officials said on an average over 400 deaths take place every day in India due to road accidents.