Jammu, Sep 7 - At least 25 people were killed and over 20 others injured when a bus in which they were travelling skidded off the road and fell into the Chenab river in the mountainous Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir Monday, police said.

Twenty passengers were killed on the spot and five of the injured succumbed to their injuries in hospital. The condition of another five injured in said to be critical.

The bus was on its way to Jammu from Doda when it skidded off the road as the driver lost control while negotiating a sharp curve and rolled down 300 metres into the Chenab river at Assar, about 150 km north-east of Jammu, around 1 p.m.

'Locals, who saw the bus rolling down into the river, launched the rescue operation immediately. They recovered 20 bodies and 26 people in an injured condition. The injured have been shifted to the emergency accident hospital in Batote,' a police officer said.

Governor N.N. Vohra expressed grief over the loss of lives and instructed the authorities to provide the best possible medical care to the injured.