At least 25 children drowned when a bus taking them to school careered off a bridge into a river in the Indian capital, Delhi.

Another 50 children were injured when the bus plunged 40ft into the water as it crossed the Yamuna river in the north of the city.

River fishermen were the first on the scene, rescuing survivors and pulling out the bodies of children as young as six. Many other people swam from the bank to help as well.

People in boats search for survivors

Navy divers later joined in the search and recovered school bags, which were piled up on the bank.

The badly-damaged bus was hauled from the river bed, metal seat frames twisted at all angles.

Belongings of the victims

The overcrowded bus, carrying children aged between 10 and 15 from the eastern side of Delhi, is said to have skidded before the crash, though the cause is not yet clear.

The BBC's correspondent in Delhi, Mike Wooldridge, said people have been protesting at the hospital where the dead and injured were taken.

This boy was found alive in the mortuary

"People were saying there had been negligence and we have learned that three children who had been taken to a mortuary were found to be alive and were rushed into the hospital," he said.

It is not unusual for school buses to carry up to 100 children in Delhi.

Parents overcome with grief

A teacher who survived the crash said the driver was prone to speeding.

The tragedy is the latest in the long series of fatal crashes in Delhi and will raise afresh the whole issue of the safety of public transport. An inquiry into the accident has already been ordered.

Some 2,500 people have been killed on the roads in Delhi already this year, compared with a total of 2,000 last year.
 

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