25 dead as Indian bus plunges into gorge

SHIMLA, India: At least 25 passengers were killed and 35 injured on Thursday after their vehicle fell in a gorge in a mountainous region of India’s northern Himachal Pradesh state, officials said.

The private bus was filled with more than 60 people, some of them sitting on the roof, when it plunged into a 150-metre deep gorge in Kullu district of the Himalayan state.

Kullu police chief Shalini Agnihotri told AFP that authorities launched a rescue operation immediately and moved the injured to hospitals. She said the toll could rise further.

Local media showed the mangled remains of the bus near a stream at the bottom of the gorge as locals made human chains to help survivors cross it.