In Uttarakhand, twenty four pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh were killed and eighteen others injured today when a bus in which they were traveling fell into river Ganga at Kodiyala on Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway in Tehri district. Our correspondent reports that Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi and Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna have expressed grief over the death of pilgrims. The chief minister announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 1 lakh each to the next of the kin of the deceased and Rs. 50,000 each to those seriously injured. The mishap occurred near Byasi when the private tourist bus had rolled down a steep gorge and fell into the river, making search and rescue operations difficult. According to Additional District Magistrate Vanshidhar Tiwari the ill fated bus carrying forty two passengers including twenty women, was coming back from Badrinath to Rishikesh. He said that all the bodies have been recovered in the search and rescue operation that lasted for more than four hours. Meanwhile, the injured have been admitted to Rishikesh government hospital, while two of the seriously injured have been referred to higher centre in Dehradun.