38 killed, 20 hurt in J&K bus mishap

 

 

 

AT LEAST 38 people were killed and 20 injured when a bus carrying passengers skidded off the road and rolled down into a 300-foot gorge in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district on Wednesday, officials said. The bus bearing registration number JK02CN-6555 was reportedly carrying 58 passengers, they said, adding that it skidded off the road near Trungal-Assar on the Batote-Kishtwar national highway and fell 300 feet downhill. A rescue operation has been launched and some bodies have been retrieved, the officials said. The death toll is likely to go up. According to a police spokesperson, the accident occurred at around 11:50 am at Trungal-Assar and the bus was on its way from Kishtwar to Jammu. In a statement, Public Relations Officer (Defence) Lieutenant Colonel Suneel Bartwal said 38 people were killed in the incident, with 32 passengers declared dead initially, and 20 sustained injuries.

 

“In a commendable display of promptness and coordination, the Indian Army, in collaboration with civil administration, conducted a swift rescue operation in response to a grievous accident on National Highway 244 at Assar, near Wani Mod, approximately 4 km from COB ASSAR towards Batote,” he said. Bartwal said the bodies are being sent to the Assar Primary Health Centre and Doda Civil Hospital. There were a total of 58 individuals on board the ill-fated bus at the time of the incident, he added. Doda Deputy Commissioner Harvinder Singh had earlier said 37 people were killed and 19 injured, including four who were shifted to the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital in Jammu.

 

“It is an unfortunate incident. It was said that the bus was not being run on the right side, which resulted in the accident,” Singh told PTI. Some of the deceased have been identified and the bodies will be handed over to their families. “We checked all the details of the vehicle. Maybe it was not being driven in the right manner. The vehicle jumped over the crash barriers and rolled down,” Singh said. An inquiry will be held into the incident, he added.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed grief over the incident. “The bus accident in Doda, Jammu and Kashmir is distressing. My condolences to the families who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest,” Modi said on X.