An overcrowded bus carrying Hindu pilgrims from India crashed in southern Nepal on Sunday killing at least 42 people.

Local police say the bus skidded off a slippery highway and plunged into a flooded irrigation canal, leaving dozens of others unaccounted for.

Fifty of the 140 passengers have been rescued, but some of them remain in critical condition.

Most of those on board were believed to be Indian nationals who were visiting Nepal on an annual pilgrimage to a Hindu festival at Triveni.

The police have arrested and are questioning the bus driver whom passengers say was intoxicated behind the wheel.