India: School bus plunges into gorge, kills 27 children

At least 30 people, most of them children, have died after a school bus fell into a gorge in a mountainous region of India, officials say. Most of the passengers were below the age of 10, police said. The bus driver and two teachers were also killed in the accident on Monday evening. The incident […]

At least 30 people, most of them children, have died after a school bus fell into a gorge in a mountainous region of India, officials say.

Most of the passengers were below the age of 10, police said. The bus driver and two teachers were also killed in the accident on Monday evening.

The incident occurred in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

Monday’s accident, which occurred about 325km (200 miles) from the state capital, Shimla, involved a bus transporting some 40 students from Wazir Ram Singh Pathania Memorial school in Nurpur in the country’s Kangra district.

“The bus rolled into a 200ft (61m) deep gorge, killing 27 schoolchildren, two teachers and the driver,” local police official Santosh Patyal told AFP news agency.

Eyewitnesses said the vehicle skidded as it turned a corner and left the mountainous road, India’s ANI news agency reported.