At least 28 people died and nine injured in Himachal Pradesh’s Rampur after a private bus rolled down a gorge in the hill state on Thursday morning, police said.

The bus was carrying around 40 passengers and met with the accident around 9:15 am, police said. Local administration rushed police and rescue personnel to the spot and a team of the National Disaster Response Force was on its way, said deputy commissioner of police Rohan Chand Thakur.

The bus was on its way from Reckong Peo in Kinnaur to Solan and met the accident on National Highway 5 near Rampur, around 120 kilometres from the state capital Shimla.

Civic and police administration started the rescue operations and the injured people have been taken to the nearest hospital, around 100 metres away. The possibility of higher casualties cannot be ruled out as the bus rolled down around 200 metres towards the bank of the Sutlej River, Thakur said.

by Hindusthan times