NEW DELHI: At least 25 people were killed after a bus carrying wedding guests veered off the road and fell into a deep gorge in northern India, police said Wednesday.

The vehicle was travelling along a treacherous mountain highway in Uttarakhand state when it careened over an edge and plunged at least 500 metres (1,640 feet) with around 45 people onboard.

“Twenty people have been rescued,” the state’s top police official Ashok Kumar told AFP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that “all possible assistance” would be given to the survivors.

“In this tragic hour my thoughts are with the bereaved families,” he tweeted on Wednesday.

Fatal road accidents are common in Uttarakhand, which encompasses part of the Indian Himalayas and is home to numerous religious pilgrimage sites.