Seven killed, 24 injured as bus rolls down gorge in Udhampur

Our Correspondent

Udhampur, January 6

Seven passengers were killed and 24 were injured when an overloaded minibus rolled down a 400-ft-deep gorge near Kaghote on the Udhampur-Ramnagar road here today.

The police said the bus, which started from Udhampur at 1 pm, was on its way to Kaghote in Ramnagar when the accident took place. The vehicle was scheduled to reach Kaghote at 2.30 pm.

“At least 3 km before Kaghote, the driver lost control over the vehicle and it rolled down a deep gorge. There was no possible technical snag in the vehicle,” a police official said.

A rescue operation was started and the injured were shifted to the Ramnagar sub-district hospital, where doctors declared six dead.

From the Ramnagar hospital, 15 persons were shifted to the Udhampur district hospital owing to their critical condition. One of passengers succumbed to injuries at the hospital, taking the death toll of seven.

Three critically injured passengers were shifted to the Military Hospital, Udhampur, while three others were referred to GMCH, Jammu. Among those killed were Mangat Ram of Bhatyari, Ravinder Singh of Kaghote and Nishu Devi of Bhugtarian.