16 People Killed in Kashmir Bus Accident

A bus skidded off a mountain road after hitting another vehicle and fell into a river Sunday in Kashmir, killing at least 16 people and injuring 19, police said.

Police quoted eyewitnesses as saying the bus hit a van while negotiating a sharp turn and then plunged into the Chenab River.

Villagers rescued the injured passengers, said a police officer in Jammu, the winter capital of India’s Jammu-Kashmir state. He said government rescue workers were trying to pull out the bus.

The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the death toll could climb because police feared some passengers may have been washed away by the river’s fast current.

The accident occurred about half an hour after the bus left Doda, 75 miles northeast of Jammu, he said.

No other details were immediately available.