Bus crash kills 29 in northern India

  • Published
Media caption,

The bus went off the road in Uttar Pradesh state

At least 29 people have been killed after a bus they were travelling in went off an expressway in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The crash happened early on Monday near the city of Agra, 336km (208 miles) from the state capital, Lucknow.

The bus was carrying about 50 people and travelling from Lucknow to the Indian capital, Delhi.

Road accidents are frequent in India, with one taking place every four minutes.

Locals rushed to the spot to help and rescued 20 injured passengers.

Reports said that the driver fell asleep and lost control of the double-decker bus before it went off a highway and plunged into a canal below.

The 165km (100-mile) Yamuna expressway from Delhi to Agra is one of India's longest six-lane motorways.

This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post by UP POLICE

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post by UP POLICE

About 900 people have been killed on the road since it opened in 2012, according to authorities.

Road accidents in India are usually blamed on badly maintained vehicles, poor driving and the state of the roads.

Correspondents say buses in rural India are often old and rickety. Many also do not follow or enforce basic safety measures - it's not uncommon to see people crowding into buses or even travelling on the roof if they cannot find a seat inside.