21 killed as bus falls into gorge in Jammu
Hindustan Times :
Twenty-one people were killed and 40 injured after a bus carrying passengers from Kurukshetra in India’s Haryana veered off the road and plunged into a deep gorge in the Tanda area of Akhnoor in Jammu, police said.
The accident took place in the Kalidhar area of the district, officials said, adding that the bus rolled around 150 feet down into the gorge, reported PTI.
“A bus carrying devotees from Kurukshetra, Haryana towards Shivkhori, Pouni, when reached near Tungi Morh, Chowki Choura the said bus rolled down into deep gorge, as a result of which 21 passengers died and 40 passengers got injure,” police said.
The accident took place in Chungi Morh area of Akhnoor in Jammu district, about 272 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
“Today a bus with around 70 people on board skidded off the road and rolled down into a 150-foot deep gorge. We are being told 21 people were killed in the accident and 40 others are injured,” an official at the police control room in Jammu said.
Muhammad Saleem Khan, block medical officer of Akhnoor, was quoted by local media as saying that 21 people were brought dead to a hospital in Akhnoor.
The vehicle was carrying pilgrims to the Shiv Khori area. The injured have been shifted to the Akhnoor Hospital and Government Medical College (GMC) hospital in Jammu.
“The first casualties have been received by CSE Akhnoor. They have informed us that they will send around 20-25 patients, out of which 16 patients have already been received. This was a tourist vehicle, and these people [passengers] are not from Jammu, they are from outside,” said Narinder Singh, Medical Superintendent, Government Medical College, Jammu.
Immediately after the accident, locals and police launched a rescue operation to help the injured and pull bodies.
Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have expressed grief over the deaths in the accident and offered their condolences to the bereaved families.
The cause of the accident was not immediately known.