Police said at least 13 people were killed when the Delhi-bound bus they were travelling in plunged into a gorge in the northern Uttaranchal state on Thursday morning.

"Twelve people died at the scene after the bus, which was carrying 40 passengers, fell into a 100-meter gorge, 225 kilometers south-east of the state capital Dehradun,’’ Alok Sharma, senior superintendent of police of the Nainital District said.

Another passenger succumbed to the injuries while being transported to the local hospital.

Of the 27 injured being treated in hospitals in the nearby Haldwani town, two are in a critical state, police said.

"The accident took place as the driver slept, perhaps because of driving fatigue. The bus veered out of control and there was a big crash,’’ Sharma said, adding the driver was among those seriously injured.

In another accident, 10 people were killed and six injured when a speeding truck ran over them at a town near Ranchi, state capital of eastern Jharkhand on Wednesday night, the IANS news agency reported.

The group was on the way to a wedding when the truck mowed them down and then sped away, police told the agency.

Nearly 80,000 people are killed in the road crashes annually in India, which accounts for 13 per cent of road accident fatalities worldwide.

Many of these accidents are reported from India’s mountainous states, including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal.