At least nine passengers were killed and five others injured after a mini-bus fell into a gorge in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district on Friday, reported the Hindustan Times. Teams of the state disaster response force and the police launched rescue operations at the site.

State Disaster Response Force official Praveen Alok said that two teams were present at the site.

Uttarkashi Deputy Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Thakur said that the accident took place near Muneri town on the Gangotri highway around 4 pm. “As soon as the Muneri police received information about the accident, they rushed to the spot for rescue operation,” he said.

While nine passengers died on the spot and their bodies were recovered, five others were taken to the district hospital for treatment, said Thakur. He added that all the passengers belonged to Rajkot in Gujarat. “The police are still to find that whether the vehicle was going towards Gangotri or returning from there,” he said.

Last month, five people were killed and 21 injured after a bus they were travelling in fell into a gorge in Uttarakhand’s Almora district.