At least 20 schoolchildren were killed after a school bus they were travelling in fell into a 100-ft gorge near Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district on Monday afternoon.
The Times of India reported that the students, mostly from Class 5 and below, of Wazir Ram Singh Pathania Memorial Public School, were on their way home when their bus fell into the gorge near Gurchal village on the Nurpur-Chamba road, some 300 km from the state capital.
"20 bodies have been recovered with the help of the local volunteers and police. “It was expected that more bodies would come up, many injured were sent to the hospitals nearby,” Abid Hussain, SDM Nurpur quoted as saying.
Eyewitnesses told the Hindustan Times that a number of students were trapped in the bus. The bus reportedly fell into the gorge when it was driving down a sharp curve, Superintendent of Police Santosh Patial told The Times of India.
"Locals who were present at the time of the incident said that the driver had probably lost his control over the vehicle which skidded into the gorge," IANS reported.
"A team of National Disaster Management Authority along with the local fire brigade has reached the spot. Rescue operation is underway," police told the newspaper.
“I have been told that twenty children died and several were injured in the incident,” Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said. “I have spoken with the chief secretary, the director general of police and the deputy commissioner.”
"The National Disaster Response Force has been deployed and rescue operations are underway with the help of local residents," Thakur added..
