Thirty-five people were killed yesterday when an overcrowded bus plunged into a gorge in Kashmir, officials said.It was the second deadly crash in less than a week in Kashmir, renowned for its mountainous terrain and abysmal road safety record.
The bus skidded off a road in the remote Kishtwar region and fell into a deep, narrow valley, senior police official M K Sinha said. Thirty-five people died in the accident and 17 were injured, local official Angrez Singh Rana said.
Seven of the injured were in critical condition and were evacuated to a nearby hospital, he said. Media reports said the bus was overloaded.
Accidents are common in the mountainous region
Local police said the bus had around 30 seats and was overcrowded. “We are investigating if it was the driver’s negligence or mechanical failure. But there could be many other factors... The roads in this region are in poor condition,” a local police officer said on condition of anonymity.
Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Mailk said many of the drivers were untrained and he had ordered state officials to cancel their licences.
“Most of the accidents take place due to careless and untrained drivers who drive without any regard for rules and regulations,” a state government spokesman quoted the governor as saying.
A separate crash yesterday in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh killed three school students and their driver, the Press Trust of India reported.
Last week, 11 students on their way to a picnic were killed when their bus fell into a gorge in Shopian district of Kashmir, officials said. Some 150,000 people die in road accidents on average each year in India, according to official figures. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah yesterday expressed grief over the accident.
Calling it “heart-wrenching”, Modi tweeted: “We mourn all those who lost their lives and express condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover at the earliest.”
Shah too said he was “extremely saddened to learn about the loss of lives”.
“My deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones,” he tweeted.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah also expressed their condolences. “Saddened to hear about the tragic accident in Kishtwar. Deepest condolences to families of the bereaved,” Mufti tweeted.
Abdullah wished for a “swift recovery of the injured”.
