Madhya Pradesh: 9 Die as Bus with 60 Passengers on Board Falls into Gorge

At least 9 people were killed and 29 injured when a bus with 60 passengers on board fell from a hill into a gorge in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district on Monday night.

The injured passengers have been admitted to nearby hospitals in Indore and Jhabua, while a team of nearly 50 policemen with 30 search lights have been sent to the spot to look for the rest of the passengers, SP Rajesh Hingankar told PTI.

The incident occurred when the private bus was on its way from Indore to Galiakot, Rajasthan. The bus fell from 300-feet-high Machaliya Ghat hillock on the Indore-Ahmedabad national highway at around 10 pm.

The reason behind the accident is not clear as yet; however, initial investigation suggests that the driver lost balance of the bus while traversing through the Ghat near Jhabua.

Several passengers on board the bus were residents of Indore and Dhar districts; and were travelling to the Muslim pilgrimage of Galiakot in Dungarpur district of Rajasthan. There were two policemen amongst the passengers.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced a compensation of ₹1 lakh each to the families of the deceased and ₹50,000 each to the injured passengers.