As many as 18 passengers were killed and 23 injured when a private bus proceeding from Mandi to Kullu-Manali veered off the road at Bindravani, about 6 km from Mandi town, and plunged into the Beas river on Saturday. The driver of the bus lost control while trying to avoid a motorcycle.
The injured have been admitted to the zonal hospital in Mandi, while some of the seriously injured have been referred to the Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital in Shimla. Bad road conditions and rash driving were the reasons for the fatal accident, said a majority of the eyewitnesses. Members of a local transport union at the site of the accident carried out the rescue operation before any official help could reach there, they said.
The injured included children who were saved by the union’s activists and locals.
