At least 10 dead, 55 injured as bus of Hindu pilgrims falls into gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India — A bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir skidded off a highway bridge into a Himalayan gorge Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55, police said.

The bus was on the way to Katra town from the northern state of Punjab’s Amritsar city when it fell into the gorge near Jammu city, police said.

Local police officer Chandan Kohli told reporters that the bus was overloaded. He said the dead were from India’s eastern Bihar state.

Residents and authorities rushed to the accident and launched a rescue operation. The injured have been hospitalized.

The shrine of Vaishno Devi in Katra is highly revered by Hindus and hundreds of thousands visit it every year.

India has some of the highest road death rates in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people killed and injured annually. Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and aging vehicles.