GAUHATI: Nine people were killed when a passenger bus traveling in India’s remote northeast swe­r­ved over a bridge and broke thr­ou­gh the railing to fall into a marshy ravine early on Sunday, police said.

Another 28 injured passengers, some in critical condition, were taken to a hospital. Authorities were investigating what caused the crash, which occurred at around 2am near the town of Kaliabor in Assam state.

Police in the state capital of Gauhati said the driver was among those killed. TV news channels broadcast images of the overturned bus lying upside down in the swamp about 6 meters below the bridge. Nine bodies covered with white sheets were lined up along the road.

The bus was carrying 35 people, below its capacity of 40, when it departed Saturday evening from the northern Assam town of Lakhimpur on an overnight journey to Gauhati.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2014