All the passengers and the driver, save for one person, were killed when a bus traveling on a mountain road in India on Saturday skidded and plunged 500 feet.
Thirty-three people were killed while one survived. All the passengers and the driver were part of Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, an agriculture university.
A picture published by the outlet shows the group, all men, posing in front of the bus before the journey.
Desai was thrown out of the bus from a window at some point during the plunge and became stuck in the branches of a tree. After about 30 minutes, he recovered and climbed down from the tree and made it to the road to alert a passerby, who alerted the authorities.
“All the passengers were traveling and chitchatting with each other,” said Desai. “The driver turned back to [respond] to a joke of one of the passengers for a second and before we could understand anything, the bus fell in the gorge. I was thrown outside the bus.”
The stretch of highway where the accident happened had received heavy rain for the past few days, reported NDTV.
Further recovery appears difficult because some appear ready to fall deeper into the gorge while others are crushed under the bus.
Officials said 40 people were originally scheduled to partake in the trip but the number was reduced due to the capacity of the bus.
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