23 killed as bus plunges into gorge in northern India

Sep 2, 2009, 5:40 GMT

   New Delhi - At least 23 people were killed and eight injured when a passenger bus plunged into a gorge in India's northern mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh, police said Wednesday.

   The bus carrying 31 passengers fell into a 91-metre-deep gorge near the Sundernagar area some 115 kilometres north-west of state capital Shimla on Tuesday night.

   'Most of the passengers were killed on the scene. The injured are being treated at a district hospital,' police officer Santosh Kumar said in a telephone interview.

   'The driver was unable to negotiate a bend which led to the vehicle falling into the gorge,' he added.

   In a recent report on road safety, the World Health Organization revealed that more people die in road crashes in India than anywhere else in the world, including the more populous China.

   According to the National Crime Records Bureau, more than 300 people die in road accidents across India every day. India accounts for 10 per cent of the 1.2 million fatal road accidents recorded worldwide each year.

   Many accidents are reported from mountainous regions like Himachal Pradesh and are usually caused by reckless driving, bad roads or the poor condition of vehicles.