New Delhi - At least 23 passengers were killed and 33 injured Saturday when a bus plunged into a gorge in India's western Maharashtra state.

The government-run bus was negotiating a steep curve and fell into a 31-metre gorge in the Raigad district district, 150 kilometres south-west of state capital Mumbai, police told the IANS news agency.

Many of the passengers succumbed to their injuries on the spot, while 20 injured were moved to a hospital in Mumbai.

India accounts for some 10 per cent of the 1.2 million fatal road accidents worldwide each year. They claimed over 130,000 lives in India in 2007, overtaking China where deaths resulting from crashes dropped to 90,000 the same year.

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