Baby among four dead as tourist bus plunges into 40ft gorge after driver lost control leaving 13 injured in India

FOUR people have died in a horror crash involving a bus full of tourists in India.

A one-year-old child is among the victims killed when the vehicle fell 40ft into a gorge near Mankulam in Idukki on Tuesday afternoon.

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The tourists were travelling from Theni and Erode in Tamil Nadu to Anakkulam in Mankulam when tragedy struck at Pemaram, near Anakkulam, according to police.

They were headed to the Anakkulam waterhole.

Local reports said the driver of the bus lost control at Permaram, on the Munnar-Adimaly route, about 4.30pm local time and the vehicle plunged into the gorge.

Thirteen people were injured and rushed to hospital by both locals and Fire and Rescue Services.

Eleven people are now receiving treatment at Adimali Taluk Hospital, while two others have been shifted to Theni Medical College.

The bodies of those who died were taken to the Adimaly Taluk Hospital for post-mortem examination.

The group of people on the bus were part of a family tour organised by Tirunalveli Ajanta Pressure Cooker Company for its staff and families, said police.

Prior to the crash, they had been at Munnar since Sunday evening and stayed at a resort at Lakshmi.

Earlier, in November, at least 38 people were killed when a bus slid off a mountain highway in India and plunged 800ft into a gorge.

Nineteen others were left with critical injuries.

Emergency services crew members searched through the wreckage of the bus for survivors and dragged them to safety.