Over 30 people were killed while several others sustained injuries as a bus carrying 40 passengers skidded off the road and rolled down into a 300-foot gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district on Wednesday, officials said.
According to the officials, the bus bearing registration number JK02CN-6555 reportedly skidded off the road near Trungal-Assar on the Batote-Kishtwar national highway.
Owing to the massive fall downhill, the bus has got badly damaged, sources said.
Expressing grief over the untoward incident, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha tweeted, “Extremely pained by the loss of lives in a tragic bus accident in Assar, Doda. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families & wishing for a speedy recovery of those injured in the accident. Directed Div Com & Dist Admin to provide all necessary assistance to affected persons.”
Taking to the microblogging site X (formerly Twitter), President Draupadi Murmu expressed concern and tweeted, ''Deeply saddened due to loss of lives in bus accident in J-K."
What does the officials say?
Police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel, besides locals, are involved in the rescue operation, they said, adding that some of the injured passengers have been shifted to a hospital.
Five of them are in a critical condition, the sources said.
Some of the injured passengers are likely to be airlifted to the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital in Jammu.
A rescue operation has been launched and some bodies have been retrieved, they said.
