At least 10 dead and dozens injured after 'overloaded' bus skids off highway into gorge 

A bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir skidded off a highway bridge into a Himalayan gorge Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55, police said.

The bus was on the way to Katra town from the northern state of Punjab's Amritsar city when it fell into the gorge near Jammu city.

Local police officer Chandan Kohli told reporters that the bus was overloaded. He said the dead were from India's eastern Bihar state.

Residents and authorities rushed to the accident and launched a rescue operation. The injured have been hospitalized.

The shrine of Vaishno Devi in Katra is highly revered by Hindus and hundreds of thousands visit it every year.

Rescuers prepare to use a crane after a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine skid off a highway bridge into a Himalayan gorge near Jammu, India, Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Tyres of a bus stand by the edge of a bridge after an accident near Jammu, India, Tuesday, May 30, 2023

People watch rescuers use a crane after a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine skid off a highway bridge into a Himalayan gorge near Jammu, India, Tuesday, May 30, 2023

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 September last year, 11 people were killed and 29 injured after an overcrowded minibus carrying school children plunged down a steep gorge in northern India.

Nearly 40 people were crammed into the minibus, which was carrying a number of students, when the accident had occurred in Kashmir.

The bus veered off the road and had plunged about 250 feet down a steep gorge near the village of Sawjian in Jammu's Poonch district.

The bus was on the way to Katra town from the northern state of Punjab's Amritsar city when it fell into the gorge near Jammu city

Nine people were killed on the spot and two others died later in hospital. Officials said the 29 injured people were in a critical condition, including six who were airlifted to a hospital in Jammu, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. 

Footage from the scene of the crash showed local villagers, police officers and soldiers rushing down the hillside to rescue the injured passengers from the bus, which had ended up on its side after rolling down the gorge.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha announced in a tweet that compensation of 500,000 rupees (£5,447) would be given to victims' families.

India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, and president, Droupadi Murmu, both expressed their condolences on Twitter.

'My thoughts are with all those who lost their loved ones. Wishing the injured a speedy recovery,' Modi wrote.

Rescue team inspects the wreckage after a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine skid off a highway bridge into a Himalayan gorge near Jammu, India, Tuesday, May 30, 2023

A rescue operation team inspects the wreckage of a bus after an accident near Jammu, India, Tuesday, May 30, 2023