At least 36 people were killed and several others injured after a bus fell into a deep gorge in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, Al Jazeera reports, citing officials and Indian media, UNN writes.
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The state's chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, said that the accident occurred on Monday in the Marchula area of Almora district in the Indian Himalayas.
"The district administration has been instructed to promptly conduct rescue operations," he wrote in X.
Vineet Pal, a senior official, told reporters that 36 people were killed in the crash, adding that some of the injured were airlifted for specialized treatment.
The bus was traveling from Garhwal district in northern Uttarakhand and was heading to Ramnagar. At least 42 passengers were on board, local police officer Devendra Pincha told Reuters.
Photos released by the government's rescue services show the crumpled wreckage of the bus in dense undergrowth, with the front of the vehicle twisted and almost crushed.
A chain of volunteers lined up along steep slopes and across a raging river, helping to pull the wounded from the mangled bus.
Pal said preliminary investigations showed that the bus skidded before it fell into a 60-meter gorge. Some passengers managed to escape or were thrown from the bus by the impact and then reported the accident to authorities.
In a message on X, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his "deepest condolences to those who have lost their loved ones in this unfortunate car accident.
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Road accidents are commonplace on many mountain roads in the Himalayan region, mainly due to outdated vehicles, poor road maintenance and reckless driving in winding terrain. "Hundreds of thousands of people are killed and injured every year," the newspaper points out.
Recent incidents include 18 people killed in July after a double-decker bus collided with a milk truck in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh. In May, a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims skidded and slid into a deep gorge on a mountain highway in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing at least 21 people.