Global Courant 2023-05-30 14:58:43
At least 10 people died and 55 were injured when a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims skidded into a mountain gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Personnel from the Jammu & Kashmir State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) inspect the wreckage after a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine skidded off a highway bridge in a Himalayan gorge near Jammu, India, Tuesday, May 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Channi Anand )
The associated press
SRINAGAR, India — A bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir skidded off a highway bridge in a Himalayan gorge on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55, police said.
The bus was on its way to the town of Katra from the northern state of Amritsar in Punjab state when it fell into the gorge near the city of Jammu, police said.
Local police officer Chandan Kohli told reporters the bus was overloaded. He said the dead were from the eastern state of Bihar in India.
Residents and authorities rushed to the accident and launched a rescue operation. The injured have been hospitalized.
The shrine of Vaishno Devi in Katra is highly revered by Hindus and hundreds of thousands visit it every year.
India has one of the highest road death rates in the world, with hundreds of thousands killed and injured every year. Most accidents are attributed to reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and obsolete vehicles.
