NEW DELHI, March 13 (Xinhua) -- At least 13 people were killed and over a dozen others injured Tuesday after a passenger bus carrying them fell into a gorge in northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, police said.
The bus fell into gorge on the mountainous road at Totam village of Almora district, about 277 km southeast of Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand.
"This morning in a tragic accident a bus fell into gorge here on Bhatroj Khan- Ramnagor motor road, killing 13 people and injuring 16 others, some of them critically," a police official posted in Almora said. "The injured have been admitted in different hospitals."
According to local government officials 13 people have been admitted at nearest Ramnagar hospital, while as three seriously injured were referred to base hospital Haldwani.
Reports said following the accident, some of the witnesses informed police, who rushed to the spot along with health teams and disaster response force personnel to carry out search and rescue operation.
Police have registered a case and ordered investigations to ascertain reason behind the accident.
The Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivander Singh Rawat has expressed deep grief over the incident and directed local administration to provide relief and proper treatment to the injured.
Deadly road accidents are common in India often caused due to overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.
An official report said on an average 400 deaths take place every day in India due to road accidents.
