Bus Accident In J&K Causes Death Of 16 Amarnath Pilgrims
Nineteen other ‘critically’ injured are being airlifted to Jammu.
Sixteen Amarnath pilgrims were killed and around 27 injured, 19 of them critically, when a bus skidded off the Jammu-Srinagar national highway and rolled into a deep nullah in the Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, officials said.
The deceased belonged to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Assam, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh, they said. Two women were among the sixteen who died, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ramban, Mohan Lal said.
The J&K State Road Transport Corporation (JKSRTC) bus was part of a convoy carrying 3,603 pilgrims from Jammu to the twin base-camps of Baltal and Pahalgam enroute the cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas, police officials said.
The nineteen injured pilgrims are being airlifted to Jammu for specialised treatment while eight have been admitted to the district hospital in Banihal, the police officials added.
Police, Army and Central Reserve Police Force, 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.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today spoke to Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and took stock of the situation. During the telephonic conversation, the chief minister apprised the home minister on the accident of the bus carrying Amarnath pilgrims in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir and the ongoing rescue operation, officials told PTI.