Three persons, including two students of a local school, died and six others were injured as a state bus fell into a deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh's Shimla district on Monday.
The accident occurred at Jhinjhari near Khalini around 7.35 am. Several private vehicles were parked on one side of the road and the bus, carrying seven students, was going from the other side when it fell into the 400-450-foot-deep gorge.
Eye witnesses told the police that lack of crash barrier and narrow road with haphazard parking of vehicles were mainly responsible for the accident. Some agitated persons damaged the parked vehicles by pelting stones at them.
Local MLA and Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj who reached the accident spot, faced protest from locals, who were blaming the government's callousness towards the safety of the passengers and ensuring parking in the area. He left the spot hurriedly.
The bus driver, Naresh Thakur, died on the spot. Two students of the Convent of Jesus and Mary School -- Manya and Sreeshthi, both aged 13 -- succumbed to their injuries later on.
The bus conductor and five students are being treated at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, where their condition is stable, senior medical superintendent Janak Raj said. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur visited the hospital to enquire about the condition of the injured.
Thakur said an inquiry would be conducted to find out the exact cause of the accident and steps would be taken to prevent such incidents.
Less than a fortnight ago, 44 passengers lost their lives when a mechanically unfit overcrowded mini bus met with an accident in Kullu district on June 20. Thirty-five other passengers received grievous injuries in that accident.