Date:12/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/12/stories/2007101255741500.htm

National

41 killed as bus rolls down hill road

Staff Correspondent

All the victims were pilgrims from Orissa; two injured

ITBP personnel recover bodies, injured rushed to hospital
Chief Minister Khandhuri announces Rs. 50,000 as ex gratia to the kin

DEHRA DUN: Forty-one pilgrims from Orissa were killed and two seriously injured when the bus in which they were returning from Badrinath to Rishikesh rolled down the hill road and crashed on a rock on the banks of Alaknanda, near Vishnuprayag in Chamoli district on Thursday evening.

According to the State Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre here, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel camping near the accident site recovered the bodies.

The injured to were rushed to hospital.

Expressing shock, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri has ordered the Chamoli District Magistrate to immediately inform the bereaved families and give Rs. 50,000 as ex gratia to the next of kin of those killed and Rs. 25,000 to those injured seriously.