8 killed, 20 injured as bus falls off bridge in Jammu

Jammu: About 10 Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims, were killed and 57 injured as their double-decker bus fell into a gorge after skidding off the road and ramming into the railing of a bridge in Jammu district, officials said Tuesday.

Most of the travellers were from Bihar's Lakhisarai and were on pilgrimage to Mata Vaishno Devi for a religious function of their child. They were members of an extended family.

The death toll may go up as Government Medical College Hospital Principal Shashi Soodan said two of the injured admitted there are critical.

The bus, which was on its way to Katra, met with the accident in Jajjar Kotli area, they said. The bus was carrying pilgrims from outside Jammu and Kashmir to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. Katra is the base camp for the pilgrims visiting the famous shrine atop Trikuta hills.

"Eight people have died on spot and many others are injured. Rescue operation is on," Jammu Senior Superintendent of Police Chandan Kohli told. "We are investigating the reasons behind the accident."

Local residents and police rushed to the spot and launched the rescue operation.

The injured were taken to the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu. "Two persons were brought dead in the hospital while others have died on the spot," said Soodan, the principal.

A CRPF officer said 10 bodies have been recovered. The bus skidded off the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and rolled down the bridge over a nallah at Jajjar Kotli between 6.30 and 7 am, the officials said.

A crane is being brought here to see if someone is trapped under the bus.

Ravinder Panday, one of the travellers, said they felt that something hit the bus. "It lost balance and rolled down. The vehicle was on its way from Amritsar to Katra carrying people who were going for pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi," he said.

Describing the accident, a witnesses said the bus was in the left lane, but it crossed over to the right side after the driver lost control, hit the railing of the bridge went down. The front wheels came off and got stuck in the parapet of the bridge. "We were hoing to pay obeisance to Mata Vaishno Devi temple and perform Mundan of our child. We were serval families together," said Ramesh Kumar, who escaped unhurt.

For the journey to Katra, the vehicle, carrying a registration number of Uttar Pradesh (UP 81 CT 3537), should have taken a left turn nearly two kilometers before the spot of accident, but passengers said the driver seemed to have lost the direction and was probably going to the Udhampur-Srinagar side of the highway.

On May 21, a 27-year-old woman was killed and 24 people were injured when a Rajasthan-bound bus carrying Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims overturned in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district.

In a similar incident, on May 21, a 27-year-old woman was killed and 24 people were injured when a Rajasthan-bound bus carrying Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims overturned in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district.

Inputs from PTI