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India bus plunges into river:

some 30 feared dead

NEW DELHI: At least 30 people were believed drowned when a bus plunged into a river in southern India on Saturday, local news agencies said.

The Press Trust of India (PTI) said the 54-seat public transport bus fell into the Godavari River near Rajahmundry town in Andhra Pradesh state after hitting a guard rail.

United News of India said 20 bodies had been pulled from the water and 40 were feared killed.

Six injured passengers were taken to hospital. Rescue teams with a crane to pull the bus from the river were at the spot, between Kovvur and Narasapur towns, PTI said.

Blasts kills one

Meanwhile, Indian police arrested two suspected separatist militants after a series of bombs exploded in a northeastern state, killing one person and injuring at least seven, news agencies said on Saturday.

A blast in Imphal, capital of Manipur state on the border of Burma, killed a youth and injured seven late on Friday, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

The bomb went off while hundreds of schoolchildren were performing a traditional moonlight dance, United News of India (UNI) said. UNI said eight people were injured.

Up to four other devices exploded in Imphal and nearby Koirengei on Friday evening, damaging a paramilitary vehicle but injuring no one, the agencies said.

Police arrested two suspected members of the ethnic Metei-dominated separatist militia, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), UNI said.

The PLA has been fighting for more than a decade for independence in the heavily forested state.-Reuter