At least 36 passengers died and 19 others were injured when a bus they were travelling in skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge in the Chenab Valley’s Doda district on Wednesday.
The bus, which could be seen in CCTV footage crossing a checkpoint minutes before the accident, skidded off the road and rolled down the slope of a gorge in Assar area in the morning. The cause of the accident is not immediately known. The bus was badly damaged due to the impact of the accident, as it kept hitting big rocks, eyewitnesses said.
According to senior officials from the Doda district administration, 36 people died in the incident so far, and 19 others were injured. “We fear the toll is likely to go up,” they said. The victims include men as well as women, they added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed grief and announced ex gratia for the victims.
“The bus accident in Doda, Jammu and Kashmir, is distressing. My condolences to the families who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest. An ex-gratia of ₹two lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. ₹50,000 would be given to the injured,” the PMO India said, in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who also expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives, directed the Divisional Commissioner and the district administration to provide all necessary assistance to affected persons.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir slammed the government for failing to contain such incidents. “Despite the public outcry and loss of precious lives in frequent road accidents, the government has failed to do anything with regard to the safety of the public. There is need to fix responsibility for this unfortunate incident and those that happened in past,” Mr. Mir said.
The Congress leader demanded “effective measures to ensure public safety, rather than making tall claims on so-called development in J&K”.