At least 14 people died on January 9, 2026, when a private bus left a mountain road and dropped into a 500-foot gorge in Sirmaur district, in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The vehicle had been on the Shimla-to-Kupvi route through Rajgarh when it left the roadway near Haripurdhar village, roughly 95 kilometres from Nahan.
How it happened is still being pieced together. Officials said the seating capacity was 39 passengers but the bus was overloaded, and locals suspected frost on the road caused the driver to lose control. Videos shared on social media showed residents and passersby reaching the mangled vehicle and pulling out injured passengers before emergency teams arrived.
The injured, more than 20 in number, were taken to hospitals in Sangrah and Dadahu. Superintendent of Police Nishchint Singh Negi said rescue teams were still trying to evacuate the injured, adding that the toll could rise.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the family of each person killed and Rs 50,000 to the injured, drawn from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu told the district administration to extend every possible help to the affected families.
The science behind such crashes is well understood: a narrow mountain road, a loaded bus, and a patch of frost are enough to turn a bend into a catastrophe. What researchers and officials will now try to establish is which of those factors, alone or together, sent the vehicle over the edge.
Sources
- Himachal Pradesh bus accident: Death toll rises to 14; PM Modi announces ex-gratia of Rs 2L | India News – The Times of India
- Himachal Pradesh accident: 14 dead, 20 injured as bus plunges into 500ft gorge in Sirmaur; PM Modi reacts
