Pilgrims killed in Kashmir bus plunge
NEW DELHI: At least 17 Hindu pilgrims died on Sunday in Kashmir, in northern India, when their bus plummeted 30m down a gorge, coming to rest in a boulderstrewn stream, police in Kashmir said.
The pilgrims were on their way to the Amarnath cave in Kashmir, where ice forms a column considered to be a symbol of the Hindu god Shiva. The bus carrying the pilgrims slid off the road as it rounded a narrow bend and began to roll, according to local news reports.
Sixteen people were killed at the scene, and another died after being taken to a hospital, police said. Another 28 people on the bus were hospitalised, many of them with serious injuries, according to a statement issued by police. Video on Indian television showed residents, police officers and soldiers forming a human chain to pull injured pilgrims out of the gorge.
When rescuers scrambled to the bottom of the gorge, they had no pathway to carry the victims back up, said Mohammed Afzal Wani, the police inspector in Banihal, where the crash took place. He said many of the injured were hoisted out with ropes.
It was the second tragedy this year to strike the annual Amarnath pilgrimage. On July 10, gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying pilgrims back from the cave, the first large-scale attack on the pilgrimage in the disputed territory of Kashmir in more than 15 years.
More than 100,000 pilgrims, or yatris, visit the cave every year in July and August.
Dangerous roads, rickety buses and illtrained drivers lead to frequent road fatalities in India. The state transport corporation has ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash.