6 killed, 15 injured as bus plunges into gorge near West Bengal-Sikkim border

Six people were killed and 15 others injured as a bus plunged into a 150-ft-deep gorge near the West Bengal-Sikkim border on Saturday afternoon, police said.

The accident happened between Andheri and Atal Setu, about 1 km from the Rangpo border, around 3 pm, they said. The private bus, heading to Gangtok from Siliguri, veered off the NH-10 and crash-landed on the bank of the Teesta river, said SP of West Bengal's Kalimpong district Srihari Pandey.

The identities of the deceased and the injured were being ascertained, police said, adding that there was a woman among the deceased. The injured persons were initially taken to a health centre in Rangpo for treatment and later moved to various hospitals in Sikkim, they said.

Police said the number of deaths is likely to go up as many injured passengers were very critical. Among the passengers on the bus when the accident happened were some tourists, they said.

The bus, named 'Quality', used to operate daily between Siliguri, the largest city in northern West Bengal, and Gangtok.

The cause of the accident is being investigated, police said.