At least 27 Indians were killed after a tourist bus from Uttar Pradesh veered off the highway and dropped 150 metres into the River Marsyangdi in central Nepal on Friday, authorities said.

The bus, hired in Gorakhpur, was heading towards Kathmandu from the resort town of Pokhara when it met with the accident in Aaina Pahara, Tanahun district. It was carrying 43 people, including the driver and co-driver. The passengers were part of a group of 104 Indian pilgrims from Maharashtra.

The pilgrims had arrived in Nepal via Gorakhpur on three buses two days ago for a 10-day tour of the Himalayan nation, MyRepublica news portal reported.

They came from Bhusal village in Jalgaon district. After spending two days in Pokhara, all three buses had left for Kathmandu on Friday morning.

“The reason for the accident is not known yet. Eyewitnesses said the roof of the bus went flying in the air as the bus started falling into the river,” Tanahun superintendent of police Birendra Sahi told Indian reporters, appearing to imply that the bus was not fit for travel.

In a post on X, the Indian embassy said: “An Indian tourist bus travelling from Pokhara to Kathmandu with around 43 Indians fell 150 metres into Marshyandi River today.”

The mission is coordinating with local authorities that are undertaking relief and rescue.

“All of them were pilgrims whose final destination was the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu,” a police source told reporters in Gorakhpur.

“According to initial information, the tourists stayed at hotels in Gorakhpur. One of them, who visited a private travel office near the local bus stand and identified himself as Charu, booked the three buses.”

Madhav Prasad Paudel, chief of the Armed Police Force (APF), Kurintar, said most of the passengers on the three buses were families.

Shailendra Thapa, APF deputy superintendent of police, said 27 bodies had been retrieved from the crash site.

A police officer said 15 of those rescued were able to speak.

An MI-17 helicopter of the Nepal army had left for the accident site with a medical team, MyRepublica reported.

The Uttar Pradesh government has sent the sub-divisional magistrate, Maharajganj, to the incident site.

In a media statement, Uttar Pradesh relief commissioner G.S. Naveen Kumar said the accident happened around 11.30am.

Pokhara is 280km north of Gorakhpur, and the bus journey up winding mountain roads takes about 10 hours. Kathmandu is 200km from Pokhara.

Nepal’s rivers are generally fast-flowing because of the mountainous terrain. Heavy downpours over the past few days had swollen the waterways and turned them murky brown, making it even more difficult to see the wreckage.

Last month, a rain-induced landslide swept two buses carrying 65 passengers into the swollen River Trishuli in Nepal. The bodies from the two buses were carried down the Trishuli for up to 100km.