SRINAGAR: A bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) skidded off a highway bridge into a gorge Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 55.
According to Arab News, the bus was on its way to Katra town from the northern state of Punjab’s Amritsar city when it fell into the gorge.
Local police officer Chandan Kohli told reporters that the bus was overloaded. He said the dead were from India’s eastern Bihar state.
Residents and authorities rushed to the accident spot and launched a rescue operation. The injured have been hospitalized.
Hindus revere the Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra; hundreds of thousands visit it yearly.
India has some of the highest road death rates globally, with hundreds of thousands of citizens killed and wounded annually. Mostly crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and ageing vehicles.
