At least 30 people were killed and five others were injured critically after a mini-bus skidded off the road and fell into river Chenab in Bhanderkot, Kishtwar in India-controlled Kashmir on Monday, officials said.

The ill-fated bus, overcrowded with passengers mostly government employees, was going from Kishtwar to Palmar, when it met the accident, said the officials.

According to eyewitnesses, the bus skidded off the road and plunged about 750-meters down the road into the river Chenab near Bhanderkot, 240-km north-east of Jammu, the winter capital of India-controlled Kashmir.

"According to the list of Health officials pasted on the wall of district hospital here, the number of dead has gone up to 30 and five people are injured. The cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained," said Faheem Ahamad, a local resident in a telephonic interview to Xinhua from Kishtwar.

Meanwhile, the authorities have pressed up police divers to recover the bodies of missing persons from the river at the site of the accident.

Deadly road accidents are common in this mountainous region often caused by overloading and reckless driving.

Though the exact cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained, the preliminary investigations have revealed that the bus skidded off the road as it was traveling more than the stipulated speed, local police said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 4, 2009)