A bus swerved off a mountain road and plunged into a deep ravine in Himachal Pradesh killing 44 people, an official said yesterday.
Only two of the 46 people on board the bus survived when it flew off a cliff and into a river in Shimla district.
Ten others earlier believed to be aboard the bus had in fact alighted before the accident, said Rohan Chand Thakur, deputy commissioner of Shimla.
“Unfortunately there are only two survivors, including the conductor of the bus who managed to jump out in time; 44 others have died,” Thakur said.
“We are now bringing the last four bodies out.”
“The terrain where the accident occurred is very tough. Without a probe, it’s difficult to say whether the accident happened due to human error or mechanical failure,” Thakur said.
Naresh Chauhan, one of the two survivors, claimed that one of the leaf springs of the bus snapped just prior to the accident.
“The driver and the conductor got down from the bus when the leaf spring broke down. After inspecting the leaf spring, they continued with the journey,” he told the police.
He said that at one point when the driver applied the brakes on a turn, the bus tilted.
“Sensing that the bus was about to overturn, I, sitting close to the back door, jumped out,” he added.
Officials at the accident site near Nerwa village were trying to identify the dead, he added.
Images of the scene showed luggage strewn around the mangled chassis of the bus on the ravine floor, as volunteers and local residents scoured the site.
D W Negi, senior police superintendent of Shimla, said 11 women and three children were among the dead.
Local television networks reported that the driver informed passengers shortly before the accident that the bus suspension was damaged.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the families who had lost loved ones, and said he was “extremely anguished by the accident.
Compensation of Rs200,000 would be awarded to the families of those killed, and Rs50,000 for the injured, Modi added.
The accident site is one of the remotest places in the state.