punes-1681564450433
Police and rescue officials inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus near Khopoli, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) from Mumbai, on April 15, 2023. Image Credit: AP

NEW DELHI: A passenger bus carrying dozens of members of a music troupe slid off a highway and fell into a gorge in western India on Saturday, killing 13 people and injuring 29 others, police said.

The bus was on its way to Mumbai, India’s financial capital, in Maharashtra state, from Pune city, where the musicians held a performance, said Atul Zende, a police officer.

The exact cause of the crash was not immediately known.

Zende said most of the passengers who died were part of the music troupe from Mumbai.

He said rescue workers pulled out the badly injured from the wreckage of the bus and sent them to a hospital.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed sorrow over the accident and announced monetary relief to the victims’ families.