DOZENS OF PEOPLE have been killed after a bus plunged into a gorge in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday.

At least 44 people were killed and another 28 are receiving treatment after the private vehicle swerved off the road and fell into a 150-metre gorge in the Kullu district of the Himalayan state.

Officials initially said 25 people were killed, but later said 19 more had succumbed to their injuries.

Kullu police chief Shalini Agnihotri told AFP that the injured were taken to the nearest hospitals where they died during treatment.

Many of the victims were women and children coming back from work and school, she said.

The bus was carrying more than 60 passengers, a large number of them on the roof, when it lost control at a sharp curve and rolled down the steep mountain.

Agnihotri said an investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the crash.

It followed a separate crash in the country on Thursday, when three children were killed and four feared drowned after their van plunged into a canal in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

With reporting from - © AFP 2019.