KOLKATA, March 17: At least 16 people were killed and 67 injured on Saturday in eastern India when their bus slid into a ditch after it tried to avoid an oncoming vehicle, police said.

“The bus packed with labourers and office-goers rolled into a roadside ditch after it tried to avoid a police vehicle,” West Bengal state police chief Raj Kanojia said.

Sixteen bodies had been recovered from the ditch, he said, and the 67 injured had been taken to hospital.“The death toll may rise as the condition of some of the injured is critical,” Kanojia added.

The passenger bus was travelling on a narrow village road near Purulia town, about 320 kilometres west of the state capital Kolkata.

A protest had erupted among locals at the scene who were angry over the accident, the police chief said. They “smashed a police vehicle when it reached the scene”, said Kanojia.—AFP