Bus falls into gorge, 26 die

Jammu, Sep 7 (PTI) Twenty-six people, including two
infants, were killed and an equal number injured when a bus in
which they were travelling rolled down into a deep gorge on
Jammu-Doda-Batote highway at Assar, 145-km from here, Monday.

The bus, heading towards Jammu from Doda, plunged into
the gorge on the banks of river Chenab at around 1320 hrs,
Senior Superintendent of Police (Jammu and Kashmir National
Highway) Alok Kumar told PTI.

The accident happened when the driver of the ill-fated
vehicle was negotiationg a sharp bend, he said.

Twenty passengers, including two women and their two
children, died instantly while six more succumbed on way to
hospitals, the SSP said.

An IAF chopper airlifted 16 critically injured from the
scene of the accident to Jammu city where they were admitted
to the Government Medical College Hospital for treatment, the
SSP said.

Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra and Union Minister
Ghulam Nabi Azad expressed shock and grief over the loss of
lives in the accident.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Azad, who is Nepal,
asked the state administration to provide immediate relief to
bereaved families and proper medicare to the injured. PTI