32 dead, 28 injured as crowded bus falls into gorge in Himachal Pradesh

At least 32 people were killed and 28 severely injured when a bus fell into a deep gorge in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh around 4.10 pm on Thursday, officials said.

The private bus (bearing registration number HP 66-7065) fell into the over 500-metre-deep nullah near the Dhoth Morh in Banjar tehsil of the district, Kullu Superintendent of Police Shalini Agnihotri said.

The bus was on its way to Gada Gushaini from Banjar. It was crowded with over 60 passengers, most of whom were students returning home after taking admission in Kullu. Sources say most of the dead were from Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s Vidhan Sabha constituency of Saraj. Banjar Patwari Sheetal Kumar told PTI that, prima facie, it seemed that overloading and negligent driving may have caused the accident.

After being informed about the accident, the CM, who was in Shimla, reportedly left for the accident site. Himachal Governor Acharya Devvrat and CM Thakur both expressed grief over the accident in their condolence messages.

The bus had covered a distance of barely two kilometres from Banjar when it fell into the gorge. Eyewitnesses say such was the impact of the fall that the bus disintegrated and its roof was ripped off.

Most of the passengers were from Gada Gushaini, according to MR Bhardwaj, the sub-divisional magistrate of Banjar. Till 8.30 pm, the rescue teams had counted and identified 32 dead, said Bhardwaj.

Rescue teams led by the SDM had rushed to the spot on hearing about the accident. The victims were evacuated to the Civil Hospital at Banjar. Medical teams and ambulances were sent from district hospital Kullu as well. Locals also rushed to the spot to help the teams.

The rescuers had managed to rescue at least 12 women, six girls and 10 young men, among others, till the filing of this report. Most of them were in a critical condition.

The SDM said the rescue operation is on and the number of dead could go up as the drain was very deep. He announced an ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 to those injured in the accident. “The Himachal government will also provide monetary compensation to the kin of the deceased after their identification,’’ he said.

The CM has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident, said a state government official, adding that Thakur has also asked the administration to provide the best possible medicare to the injured passengers.—(With PTI inputs)