At least 30 people were killed Friday when an overcrowded passenger bus fell into a gorge in India"s mountainous northern state of Himachal Pradesh, dpa reported. The bus skidded off a highway and plunged into a 30-metre gorge in Kangra district, some 250 kilometres north-west of state capital Shimla, the PTI news agency reported. District police chief Atul Pulzele told state-run news channel Doordarshan that 18 of the passengers were killed on the spot. India accounts for 10 per cent of the 1.2 million fatal road accidents recorded worldwide each year. Many accidents are reported from mountainous regions like Himachal Pradesh and are usually caused by reckless driving, bad roads or the poor condition of vehicles. -- SPA