Eight persons were killed and seven others feared dead as a bus carrying a troupe of folk dancers from Leh in Jammu and Kashmir plunged into a deep gorge near Gamoor, 20 km from here, police said today.
Seven other persons were injured as the 22-member troupe was on its way from Leh to Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh to participate in a three-day tribal fair beginning today when the bus met with the accident late last night, they said.
"Seven persons were rescued while eight bodies have been recovered," Vimal Gupta, SP, Lahaul and Spiti, told PTI over phone.
The death toll could be more as seven persons were suspected to be trapped at the spot which is "too deep and dangerous", he said.
"We used long ropes to enable the rescue teams to reach the exact location. Inclement weather with piercing cold winds following snowfall in the Valley made the rescue work very difficult but teams succeeded in reaching the spot and extricate the bodies from the wreckage of the bus," the SP said.
Twenty-two members of the troupe were travelling in the bus and chances of survival of the missing persons were very remote, he said, adding, the seven rescued persons sustained injuries and were rushed to a hospital at Keylong.
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