16 killed, 25 injured as bus falls into river in northern India

At least 16 people were killed and 25 others injured as a private bus fell into river Beas in India’s northern Mandi district on Saturday (November 05).

The ill-fated bus rolled off and fell into the river as the driver suddenly applied brakes and lost control over the vehicle.

The bus, with around 40 passengers on board, was enroute Kullu district from Mandi.

Local residents and police rescued victims from the vehicle which was left battered by the impact of the fall. The injured were rushed to Zonal Hospital in Mandi.

“We received information at around 12:30 p.m. (0200 GMT) about a private bus fallen into a river Beas near Bindravani in Mandi. Police and locals reached at the spot and started rescue operation. In this around 25 passengers are injured and 16 have died,” said Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Mandi, Kulbhushan Verma.

“I was riding this bus which was heading from Mandi to Kullu when suddenly brakes were applied at one point causing the bus to fall down. After that I don’t know what happened,” said an injured passenger, Bashir Ahmed.

Himachal Pradesh government announced a compensation of INR 500,000 (USD 7,485) and INR 25,000 (USD 374.28) for the families of the deceased and the injured respectively.

India has the world’s deadliest roads, the result of a flood of untrained drivers, inadequate law enforcement, badly maintained highways and cars that fail modern crash tests.