26 pilgrims dead after bus falls into gorge
THE death toll has risen to 26 after a bus fell into a gorge in India’s northern state of Uttarakhand with 30 people on board, with four of those rescued in critical condition, a police official said on Monday (6).
The updated toll in Sunday’s (5) bus crash was provided by Arpan Yaduvanshi, a police superintendent in the state’s district of Uttarkashi, where the accident took place.
‘The injured persons have been rushed to the nearby medical facilities,’ Yaduvanshi said.
Yaduvanshi added that the rescue workers were still looking for a missing passenger and the death toll ‘may increase further’.
‘The bus was en route to Yamunotri with 29 passengers,’ another police official at the state headquarters had told Reuters by telephone, referring to the source of the river Yamuna that is a pilgrimage site.
The bus was travelling from the district of Panna in the central state of Madhya Pradesh at the time, the official added.
Rescue operations had been launched, with the injured being taken to hospital, Home Minister Amit Shah said, adding on Twitter that the national disaster response force had been dispatched.
The picturesque Uttarakhand has some of the holiest Hindu sites and receives millions of pilgrims each year, but has a poorly maintained and notoriously dangerous network of Himalayan roads.
Shah said that he was in touch with the local authorities about the ongoing relief work for the ‘very sad’ incident.
About 150,000 people are killed each year in traffic accidents in India, according to the government.
Among the main factors contributing to the high number of fatalities are excessive speeding and people not using seatbelts or wearing crash helmets.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Governor Gurmit Singh has said that the reason behind the bus accident will be inquired, and lessons will be taken from the incident as the safety of pilgrims is the priority of the state government.
‘This will define our responsibility so that similar incidents do not occur in future as the safety of pilgrims is the most important part for us. It is a very sad incident,’ Singh said after meeting Amit Shah.