15 dead after a passenger bus skids into a deep gorge in northern India

A passenger bus veered off the road and plunged into a deep gorge in northernIndiaon Monday, killing at least 15 people and injuring over 25 others, officials said.

The accident occurred in Almora district in the mountainous state of Uttarakhand. The bus was carrying over 40 people, and so far 15 bodies have been recovered, said Vineet Pal, a state government official.

Teams of rescue and relief workers have been deployed to the site and authorities warn that the death toll may rise as they work to rescue passengers that may still be trapped inside.

The state’s chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the teams are working to quickly evacuate the injured passengers to the nearest health center for treatment and that authorities have been instructed to airlift those seriously hurt.

A preliminary investigation suggested that the bus, which was reportedly in a dilapidated condition, skidded before tumbling down a 60 meter- (200-foot-)-deep gorge, Pal said. A number of passengers managed to escape or were thrown out by the impact, and then alerted authorities about the accident.

India has some of the highest road death rates in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people killed and injured annually. Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and aging vehicles.

In July,at least 18 people diedafter a double-decker passenger bus collided with a milk truck in Uttar Pradesh state. I May, a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims skidded and rolled into a deep gorge on a mountainous highway in Indian-controlled Kashmir,killing at least 21 people.