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AT LEAST 48 people were killed when an overcrowded bus plunged off a mountain road into a gorge in northern India, officials said.
Chief Minister of Uttarakhand state Trivendra Rawat said the bus fell into a 213-metre- (700-foot-) deep gorge in the Himalayan foothills. He said about a dozen other people were injured and hospitalised.
Police official Manoj Kumar said rescuers recovered 48 bodies from the accident site.
“People were packed like sardines,” said another police officer, Jagat Ram Joshi. He said at least seven of the injured were in critical condition.
Earlier, rescue and retrieval work was hampered by inclement weather, said senior police official Sanjay Gunjiyal.
Police said the 28-seat bus was carrying about 60 people.
It wasn’t clear what caused the crash, but Gunjiyal said bad weather could have caused the bus to skid off the road.
“It is raining (in the area) since morning. Two days back there was a landslide in that area,” he said, adding that residents were the first to reach the site and help the victims.
Gunjiya said the terrain was inhospitable and communications were poor.
India has the world’s deadliest roads, with more than 110,000 people killed annually. Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and aging vehicles.
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Sad.
110,000 anually
What is wrong with these people who in their right mind would let 60 people into a 28 seater bus and why did the people themselves pack onto it.
@Philip Mc dermott: Capitalism, innit.
@Jody Price: Yeah, because India is a capitalist country.
@Philip Mc dermott: Because if they dont pack onto it they dont travel
Some of these roads you would be nervous walking along never mind going on a bus – just about the width of the bus some of them!
It is a lottery when travelling there. Slow down drivers please!
This happens a lot.
“ India has the worlds deadliest roads, with more than 110,000 people killed annually”
This is clearly bargain basement, lucky-bag journalism. Brought to you by AFP and theJournal.ie.
The above statement is meaningless. You can’t say if India has the world’s deadliest roads based off that statistic. Would the US, with upwards of 40,000 deaths, not be deadlier. Especially considering population size. Or Brazil. Or Pakistan. Or China?
So off you go theJournal “fact checkers” and get us statistics like Road deaths per 100,000 population or a Road deaths per motor vehicle. A
Superpower by 2020.
@Jody Price: No way
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