Kohima, Aug. 10: The driver of the Nagaland State Transport night bus that plunged into a gorge on Sunday has been booked for “gross negligence leading to deaths”.

As many as 17 passengers died in the accident.

Yilobemo Ngullie, who was at the wheel when the bus hurtled down 400 feet after careening off National Highway 61, was taken into custody after he received medical attention at Wokha Hospital. He was produced before the Kohima lower sessions court this morning and remanded in judicial custody.

The bus was headed for Kohima from Tuensang when the accident occurred between Kontsinyu and Longsa villages of Wokha district.

Ngullie told the police that he lost control over the bus while trying to avoid hitting a boy and a girl who were in the middle of the road.

“In trying to do so, I lost control over the vehicle, which veered off the road and fell down the hillside,” an official quoted him as saying.

The driver was in the vehicle as it rolled down into the gorge. He was one of the few to escape without major injuries.

Hospital reports said Ngullie had cuts on the eyebrows and bruises on his chest.

Piecing together accounts of the survivors, the police said the bus stopped at the Tsungiki village market for over an hour. It resumed the journey around midnight and the mishap took place a little after 2 am on Sunday.

Eight of the passengers are still in a critical condition at Kohima’s Naga Hospital.

Some of the survivors told the police that the bus was travelling at breakneck speed when it slipped off the road. “The stretch of road where the accident occurred is a broad one. The bends are not very steep either,” an official said.

Tests confirmed that Ngullie was “not under the influence of alcohol” and the brake and steering systems were in “a good condition”. The stand-by driver, Cheni Rengma, was one of those killed.

The site of the accident is only a few metres from the spot where a blast killed several bus passengers some years ago.