Once again, a terrible road tragedy is mourning India.
Twenty-two people died and seven were seriously injured, while another is missing, in the fall Sunday at the bottom of a gorge of a bus transporting pilgrims in a mountainous region in the north of the country.
Thirty people, including the driver, were on board the vehicle heading for Yamunotri, a remote Hindu pilgrimage site in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, when it left the road in the evening.
The accident happened in Uttarkashi, about 160 kilometers from the state capital, Dehradun.
The number of dead “could still increase”
"The injured were rushed to nearby medical facilities," said district police chief Arpan Yaduvanshi.
He added that rescuers were still looking for a missing passenger and that the death toll "could still increase".
Some of the holiest Hindu sites are in Uttarakhand, which welcomes millions of pilgrims each year but has a poorly maintained and notoriously dangerous network of Himalayan roads.
About 150,000 people die each year in traffic accidents in India, according to the government.
Among the main factors contributing to the high number of these deaths are speeding and not using seat belts as well as not wearing a helmet.
World
Global warming: India and Pakistan are suffocating from the heat
World
India: Thirteen women die after falling into a well at a wedding
World
India
Road accident
Accident
Himalayas
Bus