45 dead as bus falls into gorge

Fourty-four passengers were found dead at the spot by the locals who rushed to rescue them. The six survivors were immediately moved to the IGMC Hospital in Shimla town, where a 35-year-old man was declared dead. The administration has decided to conduct postmortem of the dead.

Lalita Thakur, a survivor from Gullo village in Theog tehsil, who was sitting on front seat of the bus, said the driver was trying to change the CD on the music player when the bus went out of control. “He could not negotiate the curve though the road was very wide. Watching the bus go out of the road the passengers yelled, but by then the front tyres had gone off the road,” she said. Lalita, who was thrown out through the broken windscreen, clung on to bushes on the cliff till help arrived.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal visited the accident spot and also met the injured at the IGMC Hospital. He said a magisterial inquiry would be conducted to find out the actual cause of the accident. The Government has announced an immediate relief of Rs 50,000 and an equal amount to be given later to the families of the dead. The injured would be given Rs 50,000.