JAMMU: Ten pilgrims — five women, four men and a minor — were killed and 57 injured early Tuesday morning when their bus skidded off the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, rolling off a bridge and into a gorge near Jhajjar Kotli, on Jammu city’s outskirts. They had been on their way to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.
Most of the pilgrims were from Bihar and had hired a bus to go to the mountain shrine cave for the mundan (tonsuring ceremony) of two children belonging to a Bihari family based in Amritsar. The bus was headed for Katra, the base camp for devotees visiting the shrine in the Trikuta hills.
“We were going to pay obeisance to Mata Vaishno Devi and perform the ‘mundan’ (tonsuring ceremony) of our child. We were several families together,” said Ramesh Kumar, a passenger who escaped with minor bruises.
The bus, which was allegedly carrying more passengers than the prescribed limit, apparently lost its way and reached the highway leading to Srinagar, said Jammu SSP Chandan Kohli. The accident took place around 6.30am. Such intense was its impact that the front wheels of the bus came off and were seen stuck in the parapet of the bridge, an eyewitness said.
The family of Ram Sharma has been inconsolable ever since receiving news of the tragedy. Till last night, they were all eagerly anticipating the mundan ceremony of two kids from their family — Tanya and Himanshu — but are now sinking in unimaginable grief as they await the list of deceased members of their kin.
A distraught Bharat Kumar, a relative of the deceased, said his father received a call from cops on Tuesday morning informing them of the accident. He said about 50 of their relatives had travelled from Lakhisarai in Bihar to embark on the pilgrimage together on the joyous occasion of the mundan.
About 75 people, including 22 from Amritsar, had set forth on the pilgrimage on Monday night, Bharat said, adding all of them had prepaid mobile phones that didn’t work in J&K.
“We are investigating the reasons behind the accident,” SSP Kohli said, adding that it would be probed if the bus was indeed overloaded. “Locals, CRPF and police personnel rushed to the spot and began the rescue operation. They evacuated 57 injured people and shifted them to the Government Medical College, Jammu, where two are critical,” he said.
J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha approved Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia for the next of kin of each deceased, as well as Rs 50,000 for each seriously injured person. “Extremely pained by the loss of lives in a tragic bus accident in Jhajjar Kotli, Jammu. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families & prayers for speedy recovery of the injured. Directed district administration to provide all possible assistance & treatment to the injured,” the LG’s office tweeted.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of each deceased from the state. He also directed Bihar’s resident commissioner (in New Delhi) to coordinate with J&K officials to make necessary arrangements for the treatment of those injured from Bihar.
“The bus should have taken a left turn nearly 2km towards Katra but the driver seemed to have lost direction and went to the Udhampur-Srinagar side of the highway,” CRPF assistant commandant Ashok Choudhary said, adding that the rescue operation was launched immediately upon receiving information about the mishap, and the injured were rushed to a nearby hospital in Dansal for first aid, from where they were shifted to GMC Jammu.
“Ten bodies retrieved from the accident site were sent to the morgue and a recovery vehicle (crane) was also pressed into service to check if others were trapped under the wreckage,” Choudhary said.
“As it was too early, most of the travellers were asleep when they suddenly felt an impact. The bus lost balance and rolled down (the gorge),” said one of those injured.
Meanwhile, chief secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, J&K DGP Dilbag Singh, and ADGP (Jammu Zone) Mukesh Singh visited the hospital and met those under treatment.
(With inputs from Madan Kumar in Bihar, Yudhvir Rana in Amritsar)
Most of the pilgrims were from Bihar and had hired a bus to go to the mountain shrine cave for the mundan (tonsuring ceremony) of two children belonging to a Bihari family based in Amritsar. The bus was headed for Katra, the base camp for devotees visiting the shrine in the Trikuta hills.
“We were going to pay obeisance to Mata Vaishno Devi and perform the ‘mundan’ (tonsuring ceremony) of our child. We were several families together,” said Ramesh Kumar, a passenger who escaped with minor bruises.
The bus, which was allegedly carrying more passengers than the prescribed limit, apparently lost its way and reached the highway leading to Srinagar, said Jammu SSP Chandan Kohli. The accident took place around 6.30am. Such intense was its impact that the front wheels of the bus came off and were seen stuck in the parapet of the bridge, an eyewitness said.
The family of Ram Sharma has been inconsolable ever since receiving news of the tragedy. Till last night, they were all eagerly anticipating the mundan ceremony of two kids from their family — Tanya and Himanshu — but are now sinking in unimaginable grief as they await the list of deceased members of their kin.
A distraught Bharat Kumar, a relative of the deceased, said his father received a call from cops on Tuesday morning informing them of the accident. He said about 50 of their relatives had travelled from Lakhisarai in Bihar to embark on the pilgrimage together on the joyous occasion of the mundan.
About 75 people, including 22 from Amritsar, had set forth on the pilgrimage on Monday night, Bharat said, adding all of them had prepaid mobile phones that didn’t work in J&K.
“We are investigating the reasons behind the accident,” SSP Kohli said, adding that it would be probed if the bus was indeed overloaded. “Locals, CRPF and police personnel rushed to the spot and began the rescue operation. They evacuated 57 injured people and shifted them to the Government Medical College, Jammu, where two are critical,” he said.
J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha approved Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia for the next of kin of each deceased, as well as Rs 50,000 for each seriously injured person. “Extremely pained by the loss of lives in a tragic bus accident in Jhajjar Kotli, Jammu. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families & prayers for speedy recovery of the injured. Directed district administration to provide all possible assistance & treatment to the injured,” the LG’s office tweeted.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of each deceased from the state. He also directed Bihar’s resident commissioner (in New Delhi) to coordinate with J&K officials to make necessary arrangements for the treatment of those injured from Bihar.
“The bus should have taken a left turn nearly 2km towards Katra but the driver seemed to have lost direction and went to the Udhampur-Srinagar side of the highway,” CRPF assistant commandant Ashok Choudhary said, adding that the rescue operation was launched immediately upon receiving information about the mishap, and the injured were rushed to a nearby hospital in Dansal for first aid, from where they were shifted to GMC Jammu.
“Ten bodies retrieved from the accident site were sent to the morgue and a recovery vehicle (crane) was also pressed into service to check if others were trapped under the wreckage,” Choudhary said.
“As it was too early, most of the travellers were asleep when they suddenly felt an impact. The bus lost balance and rolled down (the gorge),” said one of those injured.
Meanwhile, chief secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, J&K DGP Dilbag Singh, and ADGP (Jammu Zone) Mukesh Singh visited the hospital and met those under treatment.
(With inputs from Madan Kumar in Bihar, Yudhvir Rana in Amritsar)