At least 16 Amarnath pilgrims were killed and over 30 injured when a bus skidded off the Jammu-Srinagar national highway and rolled down into a deep nullah in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir today, officials said.
The bus carrying the pilgrims skidded off the road, turned turtle and rolled down into the nullah at Nachlana belt of Ramban late this afternoon, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ramban, Mohan Lal said.
According to the officials, 16 persons, including two women, were killed and around 27 were injured in the accident. Nineteen injured pilgrims are being airlifted to Jammu for specialised treatment while eight have been admitted to the district hospital in Banihal, they said.
The deceased belonged to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Assam, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh, they said. Two women were among the sixteen who died, they added.
Police, Army and CRPF, with help from locals, launched rescue operations and brought out the bodies and the injured persons from the nullah, they said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed pain at the loss of lives of in the accident. “Extremely pained by the loss of lives of Amarnath Yatris due to a bus accident in J&K. My thoughts are with the families of the deceased,” Modi tweeted. “I pray that those injured in the bus accident in J&K recover soon,” the prime minister added.
(Feature image source: ANI)