NEW DELHI: At least 37 members of a wedding party died and another 25 were injured yesterday when their bus plunged down a gorge in a mountainous area of northern India, police said.

The overcrowded bus skidded off a winding road and hurtled down the gorge in Rudraprayag district in the state of Uttaranchal, 350km north of New Delhi.

“Twenty-eight people, including two women, died on the spot while nine others succumbed to their injuries in hospitals,” Rudraprayag police chief Pushkar Sailal said.

The victims were travelling to a wedding in the state’s Chamoli district, Sailal said.

Uttaranchal Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari said he was “deeply shocked” by the crash.

Deadly vehicle accidents are frequent in the state in the Himalayan foothills that is criss-crossed by narrow twisting roads which are often in disrepair and do not allow two-lane traffic.

The latest crash came just over two months after 15 people died and 14 others were injured on March 13 when a bus tumbled into a gorge near the tourist town of Mussoorie.

Tiwari has ordered a judicial investigation into the accident and offered Rs50,000 ($1,160) to families of each of the victims, Rudraprayag’s civilian administrator U D Dubey said.

On May 3, at least 12 women guests travelling to a wedding were injured when their bus overturned and slid into a ravine near the hilly town of Almora in Uttaranchal state.

India’s elaborate marriages often draw large numbers of guests who escort the groom to the wedding on buses, tractors, vans, bicycles and even on slow-moving bullock carts.- AFP