Himachal Pradesh Bus Accident: 9 Killed, Around 40 Injured After Vehicle Plunges Into 500-Feet Gorge

Nine people died while about 40 others were injured after a private bus fell into a 500-feet deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district on Friday afternoon, police said.

The accident occurred when the bus en route from Shimla to Kupvi via Rajgarh veered off the road and plunged into the gorge down the road and landed upside down near Haripurdhar village, around 95 kilometres from the district headquarters, Nahan.

Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) Sangrah, Sunil Kayath, who is at the spot supervising the rescue operation, told PTI that nine bus passengers have died while about 40 are injured.

He said the rescue operation is going on war footing and all the injured and dead were being rushed to nearby Sangrah and Dadahu hospitals.

Expressing grief over the loss of lives in the accident, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, in a statement issued in Nahan, directed the district authorities to provide all possible assistance to the next of kin of those killed in the accident and ensure the best medical care to the injured.

Industry Minister and local MLA from the Shallai assembly segment, Harshwardhan Chauhan, said the district administration has been put on alert, and medical teams and doctors at Dadahu, Sangrah and Nahan hospital are prepared for emergency.

He said the cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained and expressed condolences on the incident.

Locals on the spot suspect that the bus driver might have lost control of the vehicle, following which it skidded off the road due to frost accumulation.

In videos circulating on social media, a large crowd is seen helping in the rescue operations, trying to get the injured out of the wreckage of the bus.

Locals rushed for rescue and informed the police after the accident. Officials of the district administration, police and others are also at work.

Balbir Chauhan, a resident of Haripurdhar and member of the BJP state working committee, said that the locals have done remarkable work in rescuing the passengers from the deep gorge in the difficult conditions.