11 dead, 29 injured as minibus plunges into gorge in Poonch
JAMMU: Eleven people, including four women, died and 29 were injured when a crowded minibus plunged
into a deep gorge in J&K’s Poonch on Wednesday, officials said in Jammu.
The bus was on its way to Poonch from Gali Maidan when it met with the accident near Brari Nallah in the border belt of Sawjian at 8.30 am. A joint rescue operation by the Army, police, and local villagers was launched, they said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Droupadi Murmu, and other local leaders expressed grief.
The officials said nine passengers were found dead on the spot, while two succumbed at a hospital. The condition of nine of the 29 injured is critical, and six of them were airlifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu for specialised treatment.
The bus rolled down more than 250 feet into the gorge and hit the hard ground
strewn with boulders, the officials said, adding the vehicle, also carrying students headed for schools, was completely damaged.
J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha announced Rs5 lakh ex gratia. He visited the district hospital in Jammu to meet the victims and announced Rs1 lakh aid for seriously injured victims.
Meanwhile, several people protested against the administration over its failure to check frequent road accidents and put in place a wellequipped
trauma centre. “We have to shift critically injured accident victims to Jammu, as a result of which many of them lost their lives,” a protester claimed.
Modi announced a financial aid of Rs2 lakh from the PM’s National Relief Fund to the next of kin of each deceased and Rs50,000 for those injured. "The loss of lives in Poonch accident is saddening. My thoughts are with all those who lost their loved ones. Wishing the injured a speedy recovery.