At least 36 people were killed and 16 injured when a crowded bus plunged down a gorge and crashed into a river in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
Police say the crash occurred late yesterday when the driver of the bus lost control, plunging the vehicle into the Parvati river in the tourist district of Kullu, 160 miles from Himachal Pradesh's provincial capital Shimla.
A police spokesman confirmed the deaths, but said only six bodies had so far been brought out as the rapids had washed the mangled bus further downstream.
He said 25 women and five children were among the 36 confirmed dead, adding the passengers were pilgrims returning from a visit to a local Hindu shrine.
"My guess is that there were around 50 people on the bus, most of whom were women passengers, many of whom belonged to a single village," said Ms Banti Devi, one of the passengers who survived the accident.
"When the bus swerved off the road, some of us were thrown out and survived with injuries but I don't know the fate of the rest as the bus went on rolling into the gorge," she said.
Local officials are supervising rescue and relief work at the accident site, the police spokesman said.
AFP