Updated July 16, 2017 23:37:28

Photo: A police statement said 27 injured people, 19 of them in a critical condition, were taken to hospital. (Reuters: Mukesh Gupta)

A bus has plunged into a 45-metre-deep gorge in the Indian portion of Kashmir, killing at least 16 Hindu pilgrims on their way to a cave shrine in the Himalayas.

Police officer SP Vaid said the bus swerved off a mountain road on Sunday (local time), injuring dozens of people.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.

A police statement said 27 injured people, 19 of them in a critical condition, were taken to hospitals in Banihal, a town 120 kilometres south of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-held Kashmir.

Police said it had rained in the area, making the road slippery.

Landslides had caused a heavy traffic jam on the main highway linking Srinagar with the rest of India.

Police figures show India has the world's deadliest roads, with more than 110,000 people killed each year in crashes.

Driver fatigue and negligence, low-quality roads and poor vehicle maintenance are the common causes of such accidents in India.

AP

Topics: road, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, death, india

First posted July 16, 2017 23:32:20