At least 31 people were killed in India’s remote north-eastern region early on Tuesday when a bus carrying more than 40 people returning from a marriage party skidded off a wooden bridge and fell into a pond, police said. Local villagers attempted to save those trapped inside the bus as it began to sink, before police and a disaster response team reached the scene. Six people were pulled alive from the bus and taken to a local hospital. The dead were covered with white cloths laid on the ground, eyewitnesses said.
The accident took place near Hajo in Charabari village, around 35 km (22 miles) west of Guwahati, the capital of Assam and the region’s main city. Road accidents are common in India, where roads are often of poor quality. Reckless driving and untrained drivers cause around 5,000 accidents a year in Assam alone, transport department officials say.
