SRINAGAR, Occupied Kashmir: At least 30 people were killed in the occupied Kashmir on Wednesday when a passenger bus skidded off a mountainous road and plunged down a rocky slope, according to the police.
The accident was reported on a remote mountain road in the Doda area, about 200 kilometres southeast of Srinagar, capital of the occupied region. Thirty passengers died in the accident, apparently caused by the driver’s negligence by hitting the crash bar of the road, said senior police officer Sunil Gupta. The bus tumbled down the mountain some 800 feet.
The reports suggest that more than 25 people were also injured in the crash. A video from the site showed a gruesome scene of several dead bodies, as rescuers tried to help the injured. The authorities fear the death toll could rise.
PM Narendra Modi said the accident was “distressing” and offered his “condolences to the families who have lost their near and dear ones”.
“I pray that the injured recover at the earliest,” he said on social media, adding that government compensation of more than $2,400 would be offered to the next of kin of those killed, and $600 to those injured.
The local administration was busy in the rescue operation in the gorge where the bus had the accident.
