At least 14 people have been killed after a bus carrying dozens of pilgrims from India came off a major road in central Nepal, officials said.

Another 16 passengers were injured after the vehicle veered off Prithvi Highway and rolled nearly 500ft (150 metres) down a steep bank towards the fast-flowing Marsyangdi river in the Tanahun district, before stopping on rocks.

The top of the vehicle was ripped open, but the wreckage did not go into the water, the Associated Press reported.

There were 43 people on the bus at the time of the crash and all of them were Indian nationals, according to the Indian embassy in Kathmandu.

Police and army rescuers were helping to pull people from the wreckage near Abukhaireni, a town about 75 miles (121km) west of Nepal‘s capital.

The overturned bus was pictured broken into two pieces, close to the river, as rescuers searched for passengers.

Another image showed rescue workers making their way down a steep vegetation-covered bank towards the vehicle, which was from the neighbouring Indian town of Gorakhpur.

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The bus was heading towards Kathmandu from the resort town of Pokhara on Friday when it came off the road.

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In July, two buses were swept away by landslides close to the site of Friday’s accident.

Of the 65 people on board those two buses, only three survived and only about half the bodies were recovered.

The wreckage of those vehicles has not been found but authorities have continued to search.

Bus accidents in Nepal are mostly due to poorly maintained roads and vehicles and much of the country is covered by mountains with narrow roads, with drivers forced to take large vehicles around hairpin curves.

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