Bus plunges into Himalayan gorge in north India, killing at least 36 people

At least 36 people have died and several others were injured after a bus fell into a deep gorge in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand, officials and Indian media reported.

The state’s Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the accident took place on Monday in the Marchula area of Almora district in the Indian Himalayas.

“The district administration has been instructed to carry out relief and rescue operations swiftly,” he wrote on X.

Vineet Pal, a senior official, told reporters that 36 people died in the accident, adding that some of the injured were airlifted for specialised treatment.

The bus was coming from Garhwal district in the north of Uttarakhand and was headed to Ramnagar. The vehicle had at least 42 passengers on board, Devendra Pincha, a local police officer, told the Reuters news agency.

Photographs released by government rescue teams showed the crumpled wreckage of the bus in thick undergrowth, with the twisted front of the vehicle squashed nearly flat.

A human chain of volunteers lined the steep slopes, and across a rushing river, helping pull out the wounded from the remains of the bus. Dead bodies were carried out and laid on the back of a truck.

Pal said a preliminary investigation suggested the bus skidded before tumbling down a 60-metre (200-foot) gorge. Some passengers managed to escape or were thrown out of the bus by the impact, and then alerted the authorities about the accident.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his “deepest condolences to those who have lost their loved ones in the unfortunate road accident”.

Modi’s office said in a statement that the families of those killed would receive 200,000 rupees ($2,380) in support, while those injured would get 50,000 rupees ($595).

Road accidents are common along the many mountainous roads in the Himalayan region, caused mostly by ageing vehicles, poor maintenance of roads, and reckless driving in the tortuous terrain. Hundreds of thousands of people are killed and injured annually.

Some recent incidents include 18 people who died in July after a double-decker bus collided with a milk truck in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state. In May, a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims skidded and rolled into a deep gorge on a mountainous highway in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing at least 21 people.