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Updated: Jul 19, 2018 22:03 IST

Fourteen people were killed and 17 injured when a state-run bus they were travelling in fell into a gorge some 15 km from Chamba in Uttarakhand’s Tehri district on Thursday.

The accident occurred near Kirgani village on Chamba-Uttarkashi highway around 7.45 am.

The 40-seater Uttarakhand Transport Corporation bus had 31 people, including the driver and the conductor, on board. The Haridwar-bound bus had left from Uttarkashi’s Badkot sub-division at 5 am. The driver lost control of the bus on a sharp turn and the vehicle plunged into a 250-metre deep gorge, killing 13 people on the spot, Tehri District Magistrate Sonika said.

Eleven of the critically injured, including driver Raghuveer Singh (47), a resident of Roorkee, were airlifted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh while four others were taken to the hospital by road in an ambulance. Two others, who sustained minor injuries, were discharged from a government hospital in the area after first aid.

One of the injured persons died at AIIMS during treatment, the DM said.

Of the 14 deceased, eight have been identified and the police officials were working to identify the others. Most of the passengers on the bus were from Tehri, Uttarkashi and Uttar Pradesh. The victims were aged between 26-70 years old.

Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat expressed grief at the loss of lives in the accident. “The direction has been given to immediately release compensation of ₹2 lakh to families of the deceased and ₹50,000 each to the injured,” he said in a tweet.

“Rescue machinery was immediately put into action at the district as well as at the state levels. Severely injured passengers were airlifted. Along with the DM, the police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) reached the spot for timely rescue and relief,” said secretary (disaster) Amit Singh Negi.

The Regional Transport Officer (RTO), Tehri, reached the spot in the afternoon and conducted investigation. A magisterial probe has also been ordered.