Thirty people were killed and 35 others injured on Tuesday when an overcrowded bus skidded off a road and plunged down a hill in north Nepal, officials said. The incident occurred in the Ramche village in Rasuwa district, located about 32 kilometers north of the capital Kathmandu. Police, soldiers and local villagers helped recover the injured people and bodies from the wreckage.

A government official said, "The bus was overcrowded because of a severe fuel shortage in the country that has limited transportation." Nepal normally imports all of its fuel from India, but a blockade by ethnic protesters at a key border point with India since September has hit the normal import of fuel and other essential commodities.

While poorly maintained roads and vehicles are the general cause of road accidents in Nepal, the severe fuel shortage has forced people to travel on the roofs of buses.