Death toll in road mishap in northern India rises to 40
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E-mail Xinhua, May 9, 2013
The death toll in a major road mishap in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh late Wednesday evening has risen to 40, a senior police official said Thursday.
"A total of 40 people are now confirmed dead in the mishap which happened when a bus with 70 passengers skidded off the road on the Kullu-Mandi national highway, some 250 km from state capital Shimla, and plunged into the fast-flowing Beas river. We have fished out 36 dead bodies since last evening while four, among the 15 injured, succumbed to their injuries," he said, on condition of anonymity.
The official said that 17 of the dead were women and three children.
The driver of the bus, who jumped off the bus before it plunged into the river, has been arrested, he said.
The state government has ordered a high-level probe into the incident even as many eye-witnesses have reportedly claimed that the accident took place after the driver lost control of the speeding vehicle.
India has the one of world's highest road mishap tolls, with over 110,000 people deaths being recorded every year. In 2011, more than 130,000 people were killed in road accidents.
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