17 killed, 12 injured as bus falls into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh

17 people were killed and 12 seriously wounded when a bus fell about 400 metres into a gorge near Milla village of Himachal Pradesh on Monday.

While seven victims died on the spot, two on way to hospital and eight persons succumbed to their injuries at Paonta Sahib, Sirmaur SP Sumedha said.

All the bodies have been recovered and ten out of seventeen victims identified.

The injured were rushed to nearby Shillai hospital and shifted to Sub Divisional hospital, Paonta Sahib, after administering first aid.

The condition of five injured persons was stated to be critical and they are being referred to PGI, Chandigarh.

The bus was on its way from Milla to Paonta Sahib when the tragedy struck.

Seventeen persons have been admitted to hospital at Poanta while four were admitted at Shillai.

A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident.

Most of the accident victims hail from Milla and Magnal village while one of the deceased was from village Phadog.

Deadly traffic accidents are common in India. In January, a bus crash killed 27 people in the western state of Maharashtra.

Around 140,000 people were killed in Indian road accidents in 2012 - which works out to 16 an hour - according to the government’s National Crime Records Bureau.

Bad roads, speeding vehicles and poor driving were among the contributing factors.

Tuesday 08 April 2014

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