New Delhi  - At least 15 passengers were killed and 38 injured Saturday when a bus plunged into a gorge in India's western Maharashtra state, a news report said.

The accident occurred when a government-run bus was negotiating a steep curve in the Raigad district district, some 150 kilometres south-west of state capital Mumbai, police told the IANS news agency.

Many of the passengers succumbed to their injuries on the scene while 20 wounded were moved to a hospital in Mumbai.

The death toll could rise as some of the injured were in a serious condition, the report said.

Road accidents claimed more than 130,000 lives in India in 2007, overtaking China where deaths resulting from crashes dropped to 90,000 the same year.

Accidents in India account for 10 per cent of the 1.2 million fatal accidents worldwide each year.

Most of the accidents are blamed on reckless and negligent driving and poor maintenance of roads and vehicles.(dpa)