NEW DELHI - Over 40 people were killed Thursday in three separate road accidents in India in one day, highlighting the country's chronicle road safety problem. ? ?

At least 27 people were killed and 18 injured when a bus plunged into a deep gorge in Thane, Maharashtra state in western India Thursday morning, said Indo-Asian News Service.

The bus lost control and fell into the gorge, reducing the vehicle to a junk. Rescuers and ambulences rushed 18 injured to hospitals in nearby cities of Thane and Pune.

An earlier TV report said a truck hit the bus, which was carrying 45 people, at a treacherous hilly road before it fell into the gorge.

Eleven people were killed and four injured when the vehicle they were travelling in fell into a deep gorge in the northern state of Uttarakhand, said Press Trust of India.

All passengers were killed on the spot when the vehicle fell into a 200-meter-deep gorge between Nada and Lakhamandal in Chakrata area of the district of Dehradun, state capital of Uttarakhand, in the afternoon, the report quoted police as saying.

In another accident, six people were crushed to death Thursday when they came under the wheels of a truck while crossing a road in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

The incident took place at Kanpur Colony in Maqsudan area of Jalandhar district of the state, said police.

Road accidents take place frequently in India, with an estimated 100,000 killed on average each year on the road.

Reckless driving, bad road conditions and lack of safety measures are blamed for the high toll on the road.