April 19 (UPI) — At least 44 people died Wednesday when a bus skidded off a road and fell 820 feet into a river in Himachel Pradesh state, India, a government official said.
The privately owned, 52-seat bus slid off a mountain road and plunged into the Toms River, about 60 miles from Shimla, the state capital. Forty-six people were aboard the bus, and two survived the crash, Rohan Chand Thakur, Shimla district collector, said.
The bus was traveling from Vikas Nagar to Tuni, in nearby Uttarakhand state. Ten women and three children were among the fatalities. The cause of the accident is unknown.
“Forty bodies have been recovered by the rescue team from the site of the accident, and there are reports of two more bodies floating in the river,” said D. W. Negi, Shimla police superintendent.
