KOLKATA, April 4: At least 20 commuters died on Friday when a crowded bus skidded off a road and plunged into a ditch in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, police said.

About 25 others were injured when the vehicle carrying more than 50 people lost control and plunged into the water-filled ditch, police inspector general Raj Kanojia said.

“Twenty office-goers including women and some children were killed in the accident,” Kanojia said as rescuers searched for more bodies suspected to be trapped inside the partly-submerged vehicle.

The bus driver lost control while trying to avoid jaywalkers in the overcrowded city’s Babughat commercial district, witnesses said.—AFP