Sixteen people were killed and 26 injured today when a bus in which they were travelling swerved off the road and crashed down a mountainside in India's northern Jammu and Kashmir state.
The bus was on the highway linking the state's two main cities, Jammu and Srinagar, when it skidded off the road on a bend.
"Sixteen people died on the spot. Eleven other passengers were critically wounded and have been shifted to the government medical college hospital," officials said.
Police, emergency teams and paramedics rushed to the scene of the accident to supervise the rescue operation.
Accidents are common on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, which winds its way through the steep Himalayan mountains. Traffic on the road, the state's main supply line, is often blocked by landslides and heavy winter snow.
