At least 33 people have died after a bus crashed off a bridge and into a river in India.

At least 33 people have died after a bus crash in India 0:58

THE BODIES of 33 people who had been travelling on a bus that plunged into a 150-metre deep gorge in western India have been found.

The bus was carrying 34 passengers when it plunged into the gorge after unsuccessfully negotiating a bend in the Western Ghats mountain range in Maharashtra state, local police official Prakash Pawar said.

“There were 34 passengers on the bus, one person who jumped out survived,” police spokesman Kundan Gawade said.

The bus was carrying employees of an agricultural university located in the town of Dapoli to the hill station of Mahabaleshwar.

The group was on an annual outing.

One of the passengers jumped off the bus while the accident was happening, and managed to clamber up the hillside and report the disaster, Officer Pawar said.

The sole survivor has been identified as Prakash Sawant Desai, according to police inspector Balkrushna Jadhav of Raigad police.

Police said the passengers were from Dr Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, an agricultural university at Dapoli in Ratnagiri district, and were going on a picnic to Mahabaleshawar.

As they were crossing a sharp turn at Poladpur around 11.30am, the driver lost control and the bus fell into the gorge, according to the Hindustani Times.

The victims were university employees headed to a picnic.

A team from the National Disaster Relief Force was assisting in rescue operations.

India has the highest number of traffic fatalities worldwide, with an average of about 135,000 people dying per year on the country’s roads.

One person is killed in a road accident every four minutes, according to government data.

Common causes are bad roads, non-roadworthy vehicles and reckless driving.

On July 1 of this year a bus crash in Northern India killed 45 people after the bus lost control and split in two.

Then on July 19, yet another bus crash killed 14 people and injuring 17 others after plunging into a gorge in India’s North.

India’s hill roads are particularly prone to accidents during the rainy monsoon season that runs from June to September. </s> MUMBAI: A bus carrying university workers plunged off a mountain road into a valley in western India on Saturday killing 33 people, police said.

Only one passenger is believed to have survived the accident in Raigad district of Maharashtra state.

The bus was taking staff of Dapoli Agriculture University to the popular hill station of Mahabaleshwar for a picnic, a senior Raigad district administrator, Vijay Suryawanshi, told AFP.

"We have confirmed 33 deaths and only one person managed to survive the bus crash.

Our team is trying to recover the bodies," Anupam Srivastava, commander of India''s National Disaster Relief Force, told AFP.

"The surviving passenger managed to alert officials about the deaths and the crash," he added.

Police said the slippery mountain terrain where the latest accident took place made the road a danger.

Accidents on India''s notorious roads claim the lives of more than 150,000 people each year.

Most accidents are blamed on poor roads, badly-maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

Earlier this month, 48 people were killed and many others badly injured in northern India when an overcrowded bus hurtled into a gorge in the Himalayan foothills. </s> NEW DELHI: Sixteen people were killed and more than 50 injured when a truck carrying churchgoers overturned in a hilly region of northeast India early Sunday, police said.

The truck was carrying people from three villages to a local church when it came to grief in the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya state.

"The survivors have told us that the truck driver was rash and lost control of the vehicle. After it overturned, many people fell into the deep gorge in this hilly region," district police Superintendent Sylvester Nongtnger told AFP by phone.

"We rescued everyone from the accident spot and rushed them to hospital but many of the survivors have serious injuries." India has some of the world's deadliest roads with more than 150,000 fatalities annually due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving. Last month a school bus carrying dozens of pupils collided with a truck in northern India's Uttar Pradesh state, killing 13 people.

Twelve of the dead were children aged between seven and 14, who were seated near the front of the bus when an oncoming truck collided with it. </s> Bus crash in northern India kills at least 48 people

At least 48 people are dead after an overcrowded bus plunged off a mountain road and into a gorge in northern India, according to officials.

Chief Minister of Uttarakhand state Trivendra Rawat said the bus fell into a 213-metre deep gorge in the Himalayan foothills.

He said about a dozen other people were injured and hospitalised.

Police said the 28-seat bus was carrying about 60 people.

"People were packed like sardines," police officer Jagat Ram Joshi, said.

He said at least seven of the injured were in critical condition.

Police official Manoj Kumar said rescuers recovered 48 bodies from the accident site.

Earlier, rescue and retrieval work was hampered by inclement weather, senior police official Sanjay Gunjiyal said.

It was not clear what caused the crash, but Mr Gunjiyal said bad weather could have caused the bus to skid off the road.

"It is raining [in the area] since morning. Two days back there was a landslide in that area," he said, adding that residents were the first to reach the site and help the victims.

Mr Gunjiya said the terrain was inhospitable and communications were poor.

India has the world's deadliest roads, with more than 110,000 people killed annually.

Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and aging vehicles. </s> At least 36 people were killed in eastern India's West Bengal state early Monday after a speeding passenger bus swerved off a bridge and plunged into a river, police said.

Initial investigations and eyewitness accounts said the bus driver, who also died in the accident, lost control while trying to overtake another vehicle on the bridge.

The bus crashed into the bridge's side railing before plummeting 12 meters (40 feet) into the local Bhairav river.

"Rescuers have retrieved 36 bodies so far. Nine passengers have been hospitalized," state's transport minister Subhendu Adhikari told AFP.

Rescue workers believe that there were more than 50 passengers on the bus at the time of the accident.

The rescue work at the accident site in Murshidabad district, around 187 miles (300 kilometers) from the state capital Kolkata, was ongoing late Monday evening.

"We fear that some of the passengers were swept away as glass windows of the vehicle broke (on impact)," Adhikari said.

The victims include at-least nine women and four children.

The bus lay submerged on the riverbed till emergency workers dragged it to a riverbank.

The rescue workers then used steel cutters to cut open the mangled vehicle and retrieve victims' bodies.

At least 32 people were killed in another road accident after a bus plunged into a river in western Rajasthan state this December.

India has some of the world's deadliest roads.

More than 150,000 people are killed each year with most accidents blamed on poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving. </s> 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.

Road accidents are common in India, often due to poor driving or badly maintained roads and vehicles.

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.

India’s National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) was called to the crash site and is continuing its efforts to reach any passengers trapped in the wreckage.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office tweeted that Mr Modi was “anguished” over the news of the deaths.

 “My prayers and solidarity with those who lost their near and dear ones in the accident,” he is quoted as saying in the tweet.

Authorities in the region have called for an investigation into the incident. </s> July 28 (UPI) -- A bus fell into a gorge Saturday afternoon in India, killing all but one of the 34 passengers, who were employees of Dapoli Agriculture University.

The crash occurred in Ambenali Ghat near Poladpur town in Raigad district on the way to Mahabaleshwar for a two-day trip, the Indian Times reported.

Prakash Sawant Desai, assistant superintendent with the university, managed to jump out of the bus, climbed up the slope and took the phone of a passerby to summon help.

Sawant told the local authorities the bus skidded at a muddy spot on the Ambenali Ghat road and fell about 500 feet down in the 800-feet deep gorge.

"The bus veered to the left and fell into the gorge before we could understand what was happening," he told reporters. "Trees arrested the fall someway down. I had managed to jump out in time. I climbed my way up somehow."

Forty people originally were to take the trip but some opted out because the bus was too small to accommodate all of them, he said.

The government announced a compensation of $5,822 for the kin of the deceased.

"Pained by the loss of lives due to a bus accident in Maharashtra's Raigad district," Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on Twitter. "My condolences to those who lost their loved ones." </s> At least 25 people were killed and 35 injured after a bus fell into a deep gorge in Banjar area of Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district on Thursday, PTI reported.

However, there is no clarity yet on how many people were travelling in the bus. Superintendent of Police Shalini Agnihotri told ANI that the private bus was carrying 50 people of which 25 were injured. She said rescue operations were going on.

According to reports, several people were sitting on top of the bus. Most of the passengers were college students on their way back home after taking admission in institutions, reported Dainik Jagran. According to the newspaper, most of the injured passengers are from Seraj, which is Chief Minister Jairam Thakur’s constituency. </s> MUMBAI (Reuters) - At least 44 people were killed and 35 injured when a bus plunged off a road in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, a government official said.

“Around 78 to 80 people were on board the bus,” said Akshay Sood, a senior civil servant in Kullu district, where the accident took place.

All passengers on the bus had now been rescued and accounted for, and the injured people were being administered medication, Sood said, adding that the death toll could still rise.

Indian roads are among the world’s deadliest, with nearly 148,000 people killed in more than 460,000 accidents in 2017, according to government data.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his dismay over the accident.

“Deeply saddened by the bus accident in Kullu. Condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. I hope the injured recover soon,” Modi’s office said in a tweet.
A bus crashes in Dapoli, India, killing thirty people and leaving one sole survivor.