SRINAGAR (India) - AT LEAST 26 people were killed in Indian Kashmir on Wednesday when an overcrowded bus skidded off a mountain road and plunged into a gorge, police said.

The accident occurred near Panthal, south of the summer capital Srinagar and along the main highway linking the Himalayan region with the rest of India.

'Some 52 other people have been injured,' a police spokesman said.

Bus accidents are common in the area because of a combination of bad roads, overcrowding and poor maintenance of vehicles. -- AFP