New Delhi, Nov 4 (EFE).- At least 36 people died on Monday when the passenger bus they were traveling in fell into a ravine in northern India, police said.
«36 deaths have been confirmed so far,» the Commissioner of Kumaon division in Uttarakhand state, Deepak Rawat, said.
«There were about 45 to 50 people on board,» a police officer from the police control room of the Almora district, where the accident took place, told EFE.
«The rescue operation is still going on,» he added.
The bus was traveling between the towns of Pauri and Ramnagar, both in the mountainous state of Uttarakhand.
Images released by Indian agency PTI show the badly damaged bus overturned in an area of thick vegetation, while dozens of people watch from a distance.
The photos also show several injured people being loaded onto helicopters to be transferred to hospitals.
Uttarakhand’s chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said in a post on X that the local administration and State Disaster Response Fund teams were participating in the relief and rescue operations.
He also announced compensation of 400,000 rupees (about $4,800) for the families of the victims, and 100,000 rupees (about $1,200) for the injured.
Traffic accidents are frequent in India due to the poor condition of the roads, the precarious condition of some vehicles and a lack of compliance to traffic rules. EFE
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