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16 killed, 45 injured after bus falls into gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir

24 November 2012 18:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least 16 people were killed and 45 others were injured Saturday after a passenger bus carrying them to a marriage party fell into a deep gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The accident took place Saturday evening near Dudu Basantgarh in Udhampur district, around 310 km south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "In a tragic road accident this evening in Udhampur 16 people were killed and 45 others were injured after a bus carrying them fell into around 250 feet deep gorge," said a police spokesman posted in Jammu city.

Reports said soon after the accident locals reached the spot to carry out rescue work and to remove injured to hospitals. They were later on joined by policemen.

"We tried to rescue the injured and later on retrieved the bodies from the mangled bus," said Javad Ahmad Wani, a local over telephone. "However, most of the injured were critical."

According to officials, the ill-fated bus JK02J-1735 was on way from village Marrothi to Basantgarh , when it skidded off the road near Dudu.

Preliminary investigations suggest the bus was overloaded and the driver lost control over it while negotiating a sharp curve, police said.

Deadly road accidents are common in this mountainous region often caused by overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.

Indian-controlled Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Governor N N Vohra have expressed grief over the loss of lives in the accident.

According to traffic department officials, at least 1,120 people were killed and 10,108 were injured in 6,644 road accidents across Indian-controlled Kashmir last year.