Horror Indian crash: Bus plunges 300 ft after tyre bursts

At least 52 people including two children have died after an overcrowded bus plunged 300ft into a gorge in northern India.

The driver lost control when a tyre burst at a sharp bend on a mountain road in the state of Himachal Pradesh, 335 miles north of New Delhi.

Many passengers riding on the roof of the 42-seat bus were killed in the carnage. Among the victims were 18 women.

Forty-six passengers were taken to hospital with 12 of them in a critical condition. The death toll was expected to rise, it was reported.

As many as 39 people, includ- ing the driver, died at the scene, while 13 succumbed to their injuries in the hospital.

Tragedy struck at 9am local time as the privately-owned bus travelled from Chamba to Dulera.

Sunil Chaudhury, administrator of Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district, said all victims’ bodies had been recovered but the relief and rescue operation was going on.

Four teams of doctors were working at the crash site and postmortems were being conducted at the scene.

Although an investigation into the cause of the crash has been started, Chaudhury confirmed the bus appeared to have been overloaded.

India has the world’s highest road-death toll, with more than 110,000 people dying each year in accidents commonly caused by overcrowding, speeding and poor vehicle and road maintenance.

Rescue workers and security personnel stand next to the debris in the gorge of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh

Bodies covered in white blankets lie on the ground as onlookers and rescue workers gather at the crash scene in a 300ft-deep gorge