Fourteen people were killed and 16 more injured when the bus they were travelling in fell into a deep gorge in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday morning.
The overcrowded bus was on its way from Ghordi village to Ramnagar town when it skidded off the road at a spot about five kilometres from its destination.
Police officials said 13 people succumbed to their injuries at a hospital in Ramnagar while one person died in the district hospital in Udhampur.
At least 10 people with serious injuries are being moved to the Government Medical College in Jammu, police said.
“Rescue work is still going on and it is taking time as the accident has taken place in a remote area where there is lack of transportation,” an official said.
Most of the people travelling in the bus were college students and government employees. The dead included eight men, five women and a child. Officials of the district administration said they feared the death toll could rise.
“Fourteen deaths have been reported so far but we fear more as some persons are still trapped and the rescue operation is still going on,” deputy commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said.