The bodies of 25 people who had been travelling on a bus that plunged into a 150-metre deep gorge in western India have been found and the search for the remaining passengers is ongoing.
The bus was carrying 34 passengers when it plunged into the gorge after unsuccessfully negotiating a bend in the Western Ghats mountain range in Maharashtra state, local police official Prakash Pawar said.
"So far 25 bodies have been taken out. There were 34 passengers on the bus, one person who jumped out survived ... The others are feared dead," police spokesman Kundan Gawade said.
The bus was carrying employees of an agricultural university located in the town of Dapoli to the hill station of Mahabaleshwar. The group was on an annual outing.
One of the passengers jumped off the bus while the accident was happening, and managed to clamber up the hillside and report the disaster, Pawar said.
A team from the National Disaster Relief Force was assisting in rescue operations.
India has the highest number of traffic fatalities worldwide, with an average of about 135,000 people dying per year on the country's roads.
Common causes are bad roads, non-roadworthy vehicles and reckless driving. India's hill roads are particularly prone to accidents during the rainy monsoon season that runs from June to September.
