KATHMANDU, Jan 23: At least 42 passengers died and 17 others were hurt when their overcrowded bus plunged 100 metres down a ravine in western Nepal, police said on Saturday.

"A bus carrying more than 60 passengers, including a marriage party, fell down 100 metres into a stream at Tiram in Pyuthan district on Friday evening," deputy superintendent of police Mohan Raj Joshi said.

He said the bridegroom was seriously injured, but alive. Many passengers were on the roof of the vehicle travelling from Sonpur in Dang, south western Nepal, when it crashed in Pyuthan, some 325 kilometres west of Kathmandu.

Joshi said 10 people were killed instantly and 27 died before getting to hospital. Five people died of their injuries in hospital on Saturday. -AFP