Shimla: As many as six children and a driver of a school bus lost their lives after the vehicle rolled down a deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district this morning, police said. According to initial reports, the bus was transporting the children to DAV School in the Sangrah town, when the bus lost its balance and skidded straight off the road. 12 people are said to be critically injured during the mishap and have been rushed to nearby hospital for immediate medical assistance.

Ten of the 12 injured schoolchildren were identified as Sandhaya, Rakshita, Anjali, Rajiv, Aayush, Vaishanvi, Dhruv, Mannat, Aarushi and Sunder Singh. Four people -- Samir (5), Adarsh (7), Kartik (14) and driver Ram Swaroop  (40) -- died on the spot. Abhishek, his sister Sanjana and Naitik Chauhan succumbed to their injuries at the Nahan Medical College.

he twelve people injured in the accident have been hospitalised. The condition of some of them is critical.

Prima facie the accident occurred when the bus driver lost control of the vehicle while turning it on a sharp curve.