17 killed as bus plunges into gorge on Jammu-Srinagar highway

Seventeen commuters died and 32 others were injured when a Srinagar-bound 48-seater bus skidded off the road and rolled down the slope into a 300 feet deep rivulet near Digdol on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway early on Tuesday.

Ramban Superintendent of Police Javed Iqbal Matoo told The Hindu that the accident took place at 2.15 a.m. when the bus was on way to Srinagar from Jammu. He said that 17 of the seriously injured passengers were evacuated and airlifted to Jammu. All of them were reportedly admitted to Government Medical College hospital. Fifteen more with relatively smaller injuries and fractures were under treatment at District Hospital at Ramban.

Many of those killed in the accident were reportedly labourers and construction workers from Gujarat, Maharashtra and other States. A J&K police constable had been identified among the dead.