Jammu, April 20 -- At least 17 people were killed and 32 others injured when an overcrowded passenger bus skidded off the road and plunged into a deep gorge near Kanote village in Ramnagar area of Udhampur district on Monday morning, officials said.

An official told news agency Kashmir News Service (KNS) the accident occurred around 8:30 AM when the bus, on its way from Ramnagar to Katwalt, lost control while navigating a sharp bend on the hilly stretch and rolled down nearly 150 feet into a rocky ravine, he said.

Police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel and local residents immediately rushed to the site and launched a massive rescue operation amidst difficult terrain, officials added.

The death toll rose to 17 by late af...