At least 16 Amarnath pilgrims, including two
women, died and 28 others were injured when a bus they were travelling
in skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge in Ramban district on
Srinagar-Jammu highway on Sunday, officials said.
The deceased belonged to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Assam, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, they added.
A State Road Transport Corporation bus (JK02Y-0594) was part of 18th
batch of Amarnath pilgrims which left from Bhagwati Nagar base camp in
Jammu this morning along with convoy of 141 vehicles towards Kashmir.
“As soon as the ill-fated bus having 45 people, including driver
and conductor, on board reached near Nachlana, one of its tyres burst
following which the driver lost control over it and the vehicle rolled
down into 150-foot embankment of Bislari Nullah,” said an official.
Jammu range inspector general of police SDS Jamwal told Greater
Kashmir that initial reports have confirmed that “tyre burst” led to the
accident.
“A case has been registered and we will look into all aspects of this during investigation,” he said.
A police spokesperson said 28 yatris were moved to sub-district
hospital Banihal where from seriously injured pilgrims were airlifted to
Government Medical College and Hospital Jammu and Sher-e-Kashmir
Institute of Medical Sciences Srinagar for specialised treatment.
15 deceased identified
Police identified fifteen deceased persons as Pawan Kumar son of
Dina Nath Parshad resident of Danapur Patna- Bihar, Rohit Kumar son of
Shyam Prashad of Patna- Bihar, Sagar Kumar son of Pardeep Kumar of
Janghipath-Bihar, Dileep Kumar son of Dina Nath of Darapur Patna –Bihar,
Meena Devi wife of Johar Sahu of Chanakpur –Bihar, Ravinder Singh son
of Rajinder Singh of Sherpur Modi Nagar Ghaziabad- Uttar Pradesh,
Ravinder Singh son of Raghubir Singh of Indira Puri Ghaziabad- Uttar
Pradesh, Sikander son of Pritam of Shahpur, Modinagar Ghaziabad- Uttar
Pradesh, Salinder Singh son of Bal Ram of Berubin-Rajasthan, Sashi Paul
Sani son of Ganpat Sani of Nawalgarh Rajasthan, Rahul Kumar son of
Dalip Kumar of Gola Pur, Orissa, Rachit Sharma son of H L Sharma of
Hauz Khas, New Delhi and Chander Kumar son of Madan Lal of Purani Nabhi
district, Patiala Punjab. Besides the driver Darshan Singh son of Saju
Ram of Bishnah, Jammu also lost his life in accident. Police said a body
of female pilgrim is still unidentified.
Out of the 28 injured persons 20 were shifted to Government
Medical College Jammu while eight were shifted to SKIMS Soura, Srinagar,
the spokesman added.
As soon as the news of the accident spread, locals and soldiers
launched a massive rescue operation. The locals even pressed into
service their private vehicles to ferry injured pilgrims to Banihal
hospital, around 13 kms from the accident site.
The Indian Air Force pressed into service its two MI-17
helicopters to airlift the injured pilgrims from Ramban to Jammu and
Srinagar hospitals.
8 ADMITTED AT SKIMS
Eight injured Amarnath pilgrims are undergoing treatment at
SKIMS. “We are evaluating all of them. While six yatris have minor
injuries and are stable, two seem to have serious injuries. They are in
an unconscious state,” a doctor told Greater Kashmir late in the
evening.
Medical superintendent SKIMS Dr Syed Amin Tabish said at this
time, the priority is to carry out all investigations before starting
the treatment.
The pilgrims admitted at SKIMS are Chand Pati Devi wife of Silla
Matfi of Denapore Sultanpure, Satish Rawal son of Satpal of Panipat
Haryana, Depakar Dass son of late Bipinder Dass of Assam Guwahati,
Narish Dudeja son of Om Prakash of Laerual Haryana, Sutvinder Tewari son
of Radha Krishan of Gawlior MP, Vijay Kumar son of Sooraj Narayan of
Sarfa Bihar, Chetan Mishra son of Rajender Mishra of Fariadabad Haryana
and Devi Singh son of Durga Ram of Simla Himachal.
Credit: greaterkashmir
