At least 22 dead as bus carrying pilgrims falls into gorge in J&K

In a horrific road accident, a bus ferrying some 75 pilgrims skidded off the road and rolled down a deep gorge in Jammu district on May 30, killing at least 22 people and injuring about 50, officials said.

The accident took place at the Tungi-Morh in the Chowki Chora belt of the district on the Jammu-Poonch highway, where the bus plunged into a 150-feet gorge.

The bus was carrying devotees mostly from Haryana's Kurukshetra and was headed towards Shiv Khori in the Pouni area of Jammu & Kashmir's Reasi district. It had started its journey from Hathras im Uttar Pradesh.

The bodies have been shifted to the Akhnoor sub-district hospital, a police spokesperson said, adding that a few of the injured are being treated at the Akhnoor Hospital and more than 40 people have been shifted to the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital in Jammu.

The death toll may rise as some of the injured are in a critical condition, he said.

Those who sustained injuries in the incident said they had come for a pilgrimage to Shiv Khori. "A car was coming from the opposite direction. The driver tried to negotiate a blind curve but failed, resulting in the vehicle rolling down into the gorge," Amar Chand, one of the injured people undergoing treatment at the Akhnoor hospital, said.

J&K Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha described the accident as "heart-rending" in a post on X. “The bus accident in Akhnoor is heart-rending. I condole the loss of lives and pray to the almighty to give the bereaved families the strength to bear the irreparable loss. Praying for a speedy recovery of the injured,” he posted.

The injured were initially shifted to the Akhnoor hospital for treatment. Subsequently, 36 of them, including six in critical condition, were shifted to the GMC hospital in Jammu in ambulances, the officials said.

"More than 36 passengers have been brought to the GMC hospital. Six of them are in a critical condition. Timely treatment is being given to the patients," the principal of the hospital Dr Ashutosh Gupta said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his anguish for the loss of lives due to the bus mishap in Akhnoor. He announced Rs. 2 lakh compensation for the next of kin of each deceased and Rs. 50,000 for the injured.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Traffic, Faisal Qureshi, said that it seemed there was no overloading of passengers in the bus.