As many as 37 passengers were killed including the driver and 19 sustained injuries after a bus carrying them skidded off the road and rolled down into a 300-foot gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district on Wednesday.
The death toll is likely to go up, the officials said.
The bus skidded off the road near Trungal-Assar on the Batote-Kishtwar national highway and fell 300 feet downhill. According to sources, the bus was ferrying 56 passengers. Due to the fall from a considerable height, the bus was badly damaged, sources said.
Police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel, besides locals, are involved in the rescue operation.
Some of the deceased have been identified and the bodies will be handed over to their families.
The injured were first taken to a hospital in Doda and subsequently, four of them were airlifted to the GMC hospital in Jammu.
The cause of the accident is not known yet. The officials said the bus was carrying extra passengers and while negotiating a "U" turn, it overturned and rolled down into the gorge.
The bodies were taken out after cutting some parts of the bus, they added. Some of the bodies were badly mutilated, the officials said.
Locals expressed concern over the poor condition of the road which, they said, not only led to this accident but several such incidents in the past.
Mohammad Ashraf, the sarpanch of the area where the accident took place, who along with other local residents, launched the rescue operation, said that at least 10 accidents have taken place in Doda of late, but the administration is yet to act.
"We gave Rs 6 lakh to repair the road. They failed to repair it. They have misappropriated the money. A similar accident took place here only a few months ago and many lives were lost," he added.
This is probably the biggest accident in Doda in the last few years.
Condolences pour in
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to those who lost their lives in the accident. "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," the PMO posted on X.
The Prime Minister has said that an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund would be given to the families of those killed in the accident. Those injured will receive assistance of Rs 50,000.
Meanwhile, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha expressed profound sorrow and extended heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.
"Extremely pained by the loss of lives in a tragic bus accident in Assar, Doda. My heartfelt condolences to bereaved families & wish for a speedy recovery of those injured in the accident. Directed Div Com & Dist Admin to provide all necessary assistance to affected persons," said LG Sinha.
Similar accidents in the vicinity
(With inputs from PTI and our correspondent Fayaz Wani)
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