At least 17 Amarnath pilgrims, including 14 men and two women, killed when a bus falls into a gorge in J&K’s Ramban district. The bus carried 46 persons, including the driver. Most of the passengers were from Rajasthan, Bihar, Haryana, and MP. The toll may rise as several of the injured are critical.
According to DIG (Doda-Kisgtwar-Ramban) Basanth Rath, 18 critically injured passengers were airlifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu. Besides, 11 were taken to Srinagar by road.
“More security deployment has been made in the area as a precautionary step due to the chaos in the area,” a senior police official said.
Helpline numbers (0191-2560401, 0191-2542000) have been set up to question about the pilgrims traveling in the bus. PM Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh, Jammu & Kashmir chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti and former CM, Omar Abdullah expressed sorrow over the accident.
“Extremely pained by the loss of lives of Amarnath Yatris due to a bus accident in J&K. My thoughts are with families of the deceased,” Modi tweeted.
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.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 16, 2017
The PM also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of those killed in the accident. Rs 50,000 has been announced for the seriously injured.
Rajnath Singh spoke to J&K governor, N N Vohra and Mehbooba Mufti to take stock of the situation.
