At least 24 killed, 11 injured as bus collides with truck near Kaziranga in India's Assam
At least 24 people have died after a bus collided with a truck in Assam, in north-east India. Eleven others were injured in the crash.
The crash took place on a highway bordering Kaziranga National Park in the Golaghat district of Assam. Kaziranga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The injured have been admitted to Jorhat Medical College and Hospital.
Assam's rural development minister Atul Bora said several of the deceased are college students, but they have not yet been publicly identified.
Atul Bora added that witnesses reported one of the vehicles may have been speeding when the crash took place, but the exact reason will be known after an investigation.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote in a post on X that the scale of this loss has shaken everyone.
The chief minister added that the foremost priority now is to make sure the injured receive the best possible medical care without delay.
The bus was carrying passengers from Bokakhat and was headed towards Nagaon. Bokakhat is best known as the gateway to Kaziranga National Park, famous for its one-horned rhinoceroses.
Nagaon is an important agricultural and commercial centre in central Assam, about 120 km (74.5 miles) west of Bokakhat by road.
Lurinjyoti Gogoi, chief of a regional opposition party, said road safety has long been a major concern in the state. The government must take it up seriously, he said.
Road accidents are responsible for thousands of deaths in India every year. In 2023, 172,000 people lost their lives on Indian roads, or 474 a day - roughly one every three minutes. The count increased to 183,382 deaths in 2025.
