Ist Ld Writethru: Bus accident kills 20 in Indian-controlled Kashmir

At least 20 people were killed and many injured Monday after a bus carrying them skidded off road and fell into a gorge in Indian- controlled Kashmir, police said.

The accident took place at village Latti in Udhampur district, about 302 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian- controlled Kashmir.

"Today in a tragic road accident here a bus fell into a deep gorge, resulting in killing of many people," said Vinood Kumar, a senior police official posted in Udhampur and overlooking rescue work told Xinhua. "The vehicle was on its way to main town Udhampur."

Following the accident, locals and police rushed to the spot to carry out rescue work, which was going on until last reports came in.

"So far we have pulled out 20 bodies, but there are fears death toll will increase," Kumar said. "We are trying to find out the number of people inside the bus when it met with accident."

Police officials said the cause of the deadly accident was being ascertained.

However, preliminary investigations carried out by police suggest that the driver lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a curve.

Police said they have registered a case and started investigation.

Deadly road accidents are common in India, often caused due to overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving. Endi