India: 45 die, many injured as bus falls in deep valley
No fewer than 45 people have died as a bus fell into a gorge in a mountainous region of northern India.
The incident occurred on Sunday in Nanidhanda area of Pauri Garhwal district in the state Uttarakhand.
“The bus lost control and swerved off the road, into a deep valley. It broke into two pieces on impact and it is now in a small river at the bottom of the valley,” disaster management official, Deepesh Chandra Kala told AFP news agency.
“As per official records, 45 people are dead, while many are injured,” Surendra Agrawal, official at the Chief Minister’s Office in Uttarakhand, told Al Jazeera.
“Over 50 people were travelling in the bus,” he added. “A probe will determine the reason of the accident, it could be human error or a technical snag.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office tweeted that Modi was “extremely saddened” by the news of the deaths.
