29 killed as bus falls into gorge in Uttar Pradesh

At least 29 people were killed and 18 injured when a state-run double-decker bus travelling from Lucknow to Delhi fell into a large drain near Delhi's Agra today, Uttar Pradesh police said.

Agra's Senior Superintendent of Police Babloo Kumar told our New Delhi correspondent that the accident happened on the six-lane Yamuna Expressway near Etmadpur early this morning as the bus carrying 44 people plunged into a big drain about 50 feet below the highway that connects Noida, a satellite city of Delhi, to Agra.

Agra district magistrate Ravi Kumar said about 17 to 18 people were injured and being treated in various hospitals.

Officials said the exact cause of the bus veering off a six-lane highway and falling into a drain has not been ascertained as yet.

Video footage shows that rescuers, their feet half buried in mud as they removed  the debris, pulling out bodies from the twisted metal parts of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation bus whose roof had been ripped off in the middle by the impact after it rammed through the safety railing and fell into the black waters of the large drain.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed condolences at the death of the passengers and directed officials to provide all possible medical attention to the injured.