NEW DELHI: At least 27 performing artists, one of them a child, were killed when their bus plunged into a deep gorge in eastern India, police said on Monday.

The 40-strong troupe were returning from a performance late on Sunday when their bus steered off a hilly road and into a 76-metre gorge in Deogarh district of Orissa state.

“Twenty-seven people lost their lives and around 11 were injured,” Sarah Sharma, Deogarh’s superintendent of police said.