17 Indian Pilgrims Killed in Nepal Bus Crash

Seventeen Indian pilgrims were killed when a bus swerved off a highway in central Nepal on Wednesday and plunged 300 meters (985 feet) down a mountain, police said.

The bus was heading to the Indian town of Gorakhpur returning from a pilgrimage to the famed Hindu temple of Pashupatinath in Kathmandu, when the accident happened. 

"Twelve Indian passengers were killed on the spot. Five others died during treatment," Hemant Bahadur Chettri, a local police official, told Agence France Presse. 

More than two dozen injured have been taken to Kathmandu for treatment, four of whom are said to be in a critical condition. 

"Many families have reached out to us. Two helplines have been put in place for anyone who needs to contact us," Abhay Kumar, an official from the Indian Embassy in Nepal, told AFP. 

Kumar said most of the passengers came from the western state of Gujarat. 

Deadly crashes are relatively common in the impoverished Himalayan nation because of poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

Four South Korean tourists were killed on the same highway last month when their minibus collided with an oncoming bus.