[News]At least 59 killed as two buses fall into rivers in southern India

NEW DELHI : At least 59 people were killed and more than 30 missing after two packed passenger buses skidded off flooded bridges in southern India.

Heavy rains have been battering the state of Tamil Nadu for the last two days, disrupting rail and road travel, and causing officials to evacuate several villages.

A bus carrying more than 100 people skidded off a bridge and overturned into a river near the town of Pattukottai, about 270 kilometers (170 miles) south of the state capital Chennai.

"Out of 100, 42 people have already expired," said an official at the town's administrative headquarters, declining to give his name.

"Twenty-seven people are alive, fire services and others are searching for the remaining," he added, speaking to AFP by telephone.

At least 17 people were killed in another accident in the south of Tamil Nadu when a bus carrying 62 passengers skidded off a bridge into a river in Ramanathapuram district, a police spokesman told AFP by telephone.

"Seventeen bodies have been taken out and 42 of the passengers have been rescued," a spokesman from Ramanathapuram police department told AFP. Three people were missing, he said.

The passengers were travelling to a temple town on the inter-city bus, the official said, adding the river was high due to unseasonal rains lashing parts of coastal Tamil Nadu.

The accident occurred at a spot where the river merges with the Indian Ocean, rescuers said.