Shillong: At least 30 people were killed and 11 injured when a bus fell into a gorge in Meghalaya, northeastern India.
The accident took place at about 10 pm on June 14 near Sonapur in East Khasi Hills district, police said.
The bus was coming from Silchar to Guwahati in Assam, Meghalaya director general of police Rajiv Mehta said.
Eleven bodies have so far been retrieved from the accident site and Border Security Force personnel along with local people were making efforts to recover the rest, agencies reported.
The bus skidded off the road and rolled into a 500-feet deep gorge while crossing a narrow portion on NH 44, near a bridge on Lukha river.
The bodies were then taken to Khliehriat community health center where only one of them has been identified so far.
Four persons were rescued in operations the same night, while five others were rescued early Wednesday morning.
They were rushed to North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences in Shillong, Jowai Civil Hospital and Khliehriat community health centre.
The rescue operations to retrieve the bodies have, however, been called off due to bad weather conditions and will be resumed on June 16, police said.
A police official said bad road condition and absence of proper fencing along the narrow stretches were the reasons behind the tragedy.
In January, at least 10 people were killed when another bus met a similar fate in the area.
In August 2012, 31 persons were killed and 27 others critically injured when an overloaded night bus bound for Tripura fell into a gorge in the area.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma has expressed his deep sympathies to the next of kin of those who died in the accident.
The chief minister has also commended the rescue teams for battling against severe odds to carry out rescue operations.