Bus accident kills 51 in North India

Police officials say 51 people have been killed and over 40 injured after an overloaded bus skidded into a gorge in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It’s India’s second deadly bus accident in days.
On Wednesday, 30 people were killed when a bus fell into a gorge in the northeast Indian state of Meghlaya. Local authorities have organized a rescue operation and the injured have been sent to a hospital in Chamba. Rescue workers say 39 of the passengers died on impact. At least 11 people died from their injuries while on their way to hospital.
Witnesses say the bus was overcrowded and the driver probably lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a sharp turn in the road. The area where the accident happened has also experienced heavy rains over the past few days. Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Prem Kumar Dhumal, and the state’s leader of opposition, Vidya Stokes, has expressed condolences to the families of the victims.

rescue officials at the site of a bus accident in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. At least 51 people were killed and 46 others injured when the overloaded bus rolled into a 90-meter-deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh, police said.

People and rescue officials take the victims on a truck to the hospital at the site of a bus accident in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, on August 11, 2012. At least 51 people were killed and 46 others injured when the overloaded bus rolled into a 90-meter-deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh, police said.