32 pilgrims killed in India bus crash

32 pilgrims killed in India bus crash

PanARMENIAN.Net - At least 32 pilgrims were killed and more than 20 injured on Saturday, June 16, when their bus plunged off a bridge in western India, AFP reported citing the Press Trust of India (PTI).

The pilgrims were returning from a visit to the popular Shirdi Saibaba temple, built in honor of an Indian guru, when the accident occurred before dawn in Maharashtra state's Osmanabad district, police told PTI.

"We had to struggle to rescue survivors and retrieve the victims' bodies from water," a police official told CNN-IBN news channel.

India has the highest annual road death toll in the world, according to the World Health Organization, with accidents caused by speeding, careless driving and poor roads.

Twenty-four Hindu pilgrims were killed in May when their bus collided with a truck and fell into a fast-flowing river in northern India.

Nearly 135,000 people or 366 a day died on India's roads in 2010, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

 Top stories
Azerbaijani authorities report that they have already resettled 3,000 people in the Nagorno-Karabakh town of Stepanakert.
On June 10, Azerbaijani President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev will leave for Turkey on a working visit.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive.
Partner news
---