Chief Minister of Uttarakhand state Trivendra Rawat ...

LUCKNOW, India (AP) - At least 48 people were killed on Sunday when an overcrowded bus plunged off a mountain road into a gorge in northern India, officials said. At least 48 dead as bus crashes into 700ft ravine in Indian Himalayas

At least 48 dead as bus crashes into 700ft ravine in Indian Himalayas

The bus crashed into a gorge in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand

At least 48 people have died following a crash which saw a bus plunge off a Himalayan mountain road and into a 700ft-deep ravine, officials have said. He said about a dozen other people were injured and some of them were taken to the AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) hospital in Rishikesh. "Rescue operations are complete and police are trying to get the dead bodies identified by relatives and friends, the police official said. Senior police official Sanjay Gunjiyal said 20 bodies had so far been pulled out of the wreckage, but that rescue work was being hampered by bad weather. Inspector general of police, state disaster response force, Uttarakhand, Sanjay Gunjyal told media in Dehradun that initial reports revealed that the bus was carrying more passengers than its capacity and the condition of the road was also being investigated. India has the world’s deadliest roads, with more than 110,000 people killed annually. Road accidents are frequent in India with uncontrolled traffic junctions, badly maintained vehicles, poor driving standards blamed for most incidents.
A bus skids off a mountain road into a 700-foot (210 m)–deep ravine in Uttarakhand, India, killing at least 48 people.