Bus accident in India's Uttarakhand kills 36, leaves six injured

At least 42 passengers on board in the bus travelling from Garhwal in the Himalayas to Ramnagar

At least 36 people were killed and six were injured after a bus plunged into a gorge in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand on Monday, an official told Reuters.

The bus was travelling from Garhwal in the Himalayas and was headed to the town of Ramnagar, with at least 42 passengers on board, Devendra Pincha, a local police officer said by phone.

Visuals from ANI news agency, in which Reuters has a minority stake, showed an overturned bus lying beside a river at the base of a hill.

Photographs released by government rescue teams showed the crumpled wreckage of the bus in thick undergrowth, with the twisted front of the vehicle squashed nearly flat.

"So far, 36 casualties have been confirmed," Deepak Rawat, a senior official from the northern state of Uttarakhand told reporters. "Three critically injured have been sent to hospital using a helicopter."

A human chain of volunteers lined the steep slopes, and across a rushing river, helping pull out the wounded from the remains of the bus. Dead bodies were carried out and laid on the back of a truck.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his "deepest condolences to those who have lost their loved ones in the unfortunate road accident".

Modi's office said in a statement that the families of those killed would receive 200,000 rupees ($2,380) in support, while those injured would get 50,000 ($595).

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said he had ordered an investigation into the accident, which took place in forested hills near the town of Almora. Hundreds of people die in road accidents in India every year.

State Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on X an inquiry would be carried out into the cause of the incident.