12 dead as mini-bus falls into ravine

Twelve people were killed, four were missing and one was injured when a mini-bus carrying them plunged into a 150-metre deep ravine in Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district on Wednesday morning.

Rescuers recovered 12 bodies and a search was on to trace the four missing passengers, who were believed to have been washed away, SP (Chamba) Madhusudan said.

The ill-fated vehicle was on its way from Tissa to Dalhousie when the accident happened near Shikari Maur in Chamba district, he said.

The driver and the conductor of the private vehicle were among the dead, the SP said adding one person was injured in the accident. Governor Urmila Singh and Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal expressed grief over the tragedy.