In a major tragedy, at least 30 people were feared killed and another 25 injured injured when a private tourist bus from Punjab skidded off the road and fell into the swollen Parvati river in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district on Thursday, police said.
Till late in the evening on Thursday, search and rescue operations were being carried out. Bodies of 15 passengers have been recovered so far from the swift flowing river. Officials feared that some of the bodies may have been washed away from the site of the accident due to the current of the swollen river.
The bus had 55 passengers and 18 of them were rescued by the local people soon after the accident. Officials said the chances of survival of the remaining passengers was bleak.
A majority of the passengers in the bus where from Punjab's Barnala and Mansa towns who were travelling to a Sikh shrine in Manikaran.
The bus met with the accident in Sarsari village on the Bhuntar-Manikaran road, some eight km from Bhuntar.
Officials said the bus was untraceable till late in the evening and fading light affected the rescue operations. Most the bodies might be still stuck in the bus or washed away, an official said.
Police is yet to determine the cause of the accident. The injured were admitted to Government hospitals in Kullu.
The Government has summoned divers of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to locate the bodies.
Governor Kalyan Singh and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh mourned the deaths.
The Chief Minister directed the district administration to intensify the search operation, besides providing all possible assistance to the injured.