NEW DELHI: Sixteen soldiers were killed in India’s remote northeast Friday when the military truck transporting them skidded down a steep mountain slope and crashed, the army said.

The accident occurred in the state of Sikkim while the truck carrying the soldiers was negotiating a treacherous turn in a mountainous area near the border with China.

“A rescue mission was immediately launched, and four injured soldiers have been air evacuated,” the Indian Army’s eastern command said in a statement, confirming three officers and 13 soldiers had died of injuries after the accident.

Sikkim has some of India’s most dangerous high-altitude roads, particularly along its isolated Himalayan border with Tibet.

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In August, six paramilitaries were killed in an accident in Indian-administered Kashmir when an armoured vehicle carrying them rolled down a mountain slope.