10 killed, 15 injured in bus accident in HP

Mandi, Feb 12 (UNI) At least 10 people were killed and 15 injured, three of them seriously, after a private bus fell into a gorge in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh today, district SP M Chandershekhar said.

The accident occurred at Khasi Nahar village, about 70 km from here, at about 1800 hrs when the bus was on its way to Jhanjali from here, he said.

Mr Chandershekhar said senior district administration officials have rushed to the accident site to supervise relief and rescue operations, which were being hampered due to intense coldwave and heavy rains in the area.

Medical teams are also accompanying the officials, he said.

He said the injured have been admitted to the nearest primary health centres at Jhanjali and Thunag, while the seriously injured have been referred to Regional Hospital here and Civil Hospital at Sundernagar.

The driver of the speeding bus apparently failed to negotiate a sharp curve and the vehicle slipped on a road, covered with frost, the SP said.

A case has been registered and investigations were on, he said, adding that the dead and injured were yet to be identified.

UNI