M A I N   N E W S

19 dead as bus rolls down 500 ft gorge in Himachal
Our Correspondent

Bilaspur, October 24
At least 19 passengers died and 50 were injured, most of them seriously, when a Bilaspur-Bandla bound late evening bus of the HRTC, plunged nearly 500 feet into a deep gorge from the Bandla hill road late today evening. The ill-fated bus stopped only near the HRTC colony on the National Highway No 21.

According to initial reports, the bus was overloaded. As the driver attempted to negotiate a sharp turn, he lost control on the vehicle and it veered off the road and rolled down several hundred feet before coming to rest.

Deputy Commissioner Ritesh Chauhan said that help had been rushed to the spot of the accident and the toll could go up as rescue operations were continuing in the hilly and difficult rocky terrain. Operations were being further hindered by darkness, he added.

The injured were rushed to the Regional Hospital here and are undergoing treatment there.

The spot of the accident is about 3 km away from the heart of town.