Jammu, April 20 -- At least 20 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 the Ramnagar area of Udhampur district on Monday morning, officials said.

An official told the news agency Kashmir News Service (KNS) that 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...