All safe : Officials
Ganderbal, Jul 28 Several Amarnath Yatra pilgrims were injured on Tuesday when their bus skidded off the road and rolled into a gorge near Hariganiwan in Gund area of central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, officials said.
The accident occurred along the S-Mode stretch when the driver lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a sharp curve on the mountainous route, they said. The bus, carrying pilgrims to the cave shrine, overturned and plunged into the roadside gorge.
Soon after the mishap, a massive multi-agency rescue operation was launched involving personnel from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army, CRPF, ITBP and Assam Rifles, besides local volunteers, officials said. Teams from the 21 Rashtriya Rifles, CRPF’s 118 Battalion and 2 Assam Rifles rushed to the spot and assisted in evacuating the trapped passengers.
All pilgrims were safely rescued and the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals for medical treatment, they said. Hospital authorities said most of the injured are stable and are being monitored.
Police have registered a case and initiated an inquiry to ascertain the exact cause of the accident. (KNS)
