Rescue work being carried out after a bus rolled down a gorge in Udhampur on Monday. PTI
Tribune News Service
Jammu, May 11
As many as 23 passengers were killed and 35 injured, when a bus they were travelling in plunged into a 200-feet deep gorge, in Udhampur district this morning, 65 kms from here.“The mishap occurred around 10 am when the overloaded bus, on its way from Latti to Udhampur, plunged into the gorge near Bandrasa Morh,” said Udhampur SDPO Vinod Kumar. Bandrasa Morh is 72 km from Udhampur town.Kumar said: “So far, we have retrieved 10 bodies and are taking out the rest as some of the bodies are still struck in the bus lying in the gorge.”The SDPO said the bus was "overloaded". “It cannot be said right now if the bus had developed a technical snag or was driven rashly, but it was overloaded,” he said.The injured are being hospitalised and choppers have been requisitioned to airlift the critically injured people to Government Medical College (GMC) hospital in Jammu.PM expresses grief over bus accidentPrime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed grief over the loss of life in the road accident in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir.Soon after receiving the news of the bus accident, Modi sought details of the mishap, which were given to him by Jitendra Singh, Union MoS PMO, an official release said today.The prime minister expressed grief over the accident and issued instructions to provide necessary help was required to the victims. He also conveyed his condolence to the families of the deceased, it said."Disturbing news from J-K. Bus accident in Udhampur has saddened me. My thoughts are with families of the deceased. Prayers with the injured," he tweeted."I have asked my ministerial colleague Dr Jitendra Singh to stay in touch with authorities," he said. — With PTI inputs