At least 25 people were killed and 20 others injured when a bus carrying 45-50 members of a marriage party fell into a gorge in Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal district, police said on Wednesday.

The bus was on its way to Kanda village in Bironkhal from Laldhang town in Haridwar when it fell into a 500-metre gorge near Simri bend at around 7 pm on Tuesday, they said.

Rescue operations were carried out throughout the night, police said. Eighteen bodies have been retrieved so far while seven-eight bodies could still be trapped inside the bus, they added.

Twenty people injured in the accident were pulled out of the mangled remains of the bus and rushed to hospitals in Bironkhal, Rikhnikhal and Kotdwar, police said.

Two of the injured died on the way to the hospital, they said.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who along with former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank arrived for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation, met the people hospitalised in Kotdwar.

Dhami announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased and of Rs 50,000 for the injured.

He also hoped that all bodies will be recovered by evening.