At least 25 people were killed and an equal number injured when a private bus skidded off the road and plunged into a deep gorge near Monkey Morh under Ramban police station in Doda district early on Sunday.

Army sources said the bus was carrying 50 passengers and added, rescue operations had started to recover the bodies from the Chenab River.

The sources said the incident took place around 0615 hours on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

The sources added 20 persons were killed on the spot while five died on way to the hospital.

All the injured have been indentified and shifted to Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu, and many of them stated to be critical.

According to police, most of the victims were labourers from Uttar Pradesh [Images], Bihar and Nepal while a few were from Rajouri district of Jammu region.

The bus was on the way to Srinagar [Images] from Ramban.

Senior police and army officials are camping on the spot and supervising the rescue operation.