NEW DELHI: At least 37 members of a wedding party died and another 25 were injured on Tuesday when their bus plunged down a gorge in a mountainous area of northern India. The overcrowded bus skidded off a winding road and hurtled down the gorge in Uttaranchal state’s Rudraprayag district, 350 kilometres north of New Delhi.

“Twenty-eight people, including two women, died on the spot while nine others succumbed to their injuries in hospitals,” a police official said. The victims were travelling to a wedding in the state’s Chamoli district. Deadly vehicle accidents are frequent in the state in the Himalayan foothills that is criss-crossed by narrow twisting roads which are often in disrepair and do not allow two-lane traffic.

The latest crash came just over two months after 15 people died and 14 others were injured on March 13 when a bus tumbled into a gorge near the tourist town of Mussoorie.—AFP