Himachal Pradesh Transport Minister GS Bali, terming the bus accident in the Bilaspur area as 'unfortunate', on Wednesday said that enquiries as to how the accident occurred are underway.
Speaking to ANI, Bali said, "This is a very sad incident. Within 10-15 minutes of the accident taking place, I had been informed and thus we were able to start the relief work within half an hour. Unfortunately, the drop was very sheer. There have been 23 casualties, with 17 people injured.
"This was a minibus and we are checking to see if all the papers and permits were in order. However, our priority was to rescue and treat the injured and removing the dead bodies from the bus" he added.
Bali also said that the bus was overloaded. "It is too early to speak of the reasons, but an enquiry is ongoing but one thing that we know is that the bus was overloaded."
Earlier, the tragedy occurred when a private bus carrying approximately 40 passengers rolled down into a lake near Ghumarwin.