21 killed, 6 injured after bus falls into gorge in N. India

NEW DELHI - At least 21 people were killed and six others injured after a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims skidded off a mountainous road and into a deep gorge in northern Indian state of Uttarakhand Tuesday, officials has said.

The accident took place in the evening near Dharasu village in Uttarkashi district, about 116 km north of Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand.

"This evening, a bus carrying pilgrims skidded off the road near Dharasu here, killing 21 people and injuring six others," Ashish Kumar Srivastava, deputy commissioner of Uttarkashi told Xinhua over telephone. "The rescue operations are going on at the spot to locate survivors."

According to Srivastava, the injured were immediately sent to Chinyalisaur hospital.

"The injured ones rescued from the spot are in the state of shock and undergoing treatment at hospital here," he said. "We cannot ask them questions at this point of time about how many people were in the bus at the time of accident."

Officials said the victims hail from central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and were returning back after performing Char Dham pilgrimage.

"The ill-fated bus was returning from Gangotri and was travelling towards Chinyalisaur, when it fell into a 250-meter deep gorge," police said.

Authorities have rushed police teams, disaster response personnel, besides paramilitary troopers, to the spot to carry rescue work.

The cause of the accident was being ascertained, police said.