New Delhi – At least 22 people were killed and more than 70 others injured when a bus strayed off a mountain road and plunged into a 50-metre-high gorge in the Akhnoor area of northern India’s Jammu region on Thursday. The bus was carrying pilgrims to the Shiv Khori shrine, a popular Hindu holy site in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir state.
The victims included at least eight women and two children, according to government officials.
“It seems like a human error,” Rajinder Singh Tara, transport commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir state, told reporters. “The driver may not have been able to negotiate the sharp bend in the road, causing the bus to drive into the gorge.”
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The state transport department has ordered an investigation into the cause of the accident.
People injured in the crash were rescued by teams of police and locals and taken to Government Medical College hospital in Jammu for treatment.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “agonized by the loss of life” in the accident. He announced that each family of a person killed in the crash would receive 200,000 Indian rupees (about $2,400) from the government, and 50,000 Indian rupees (about $600) for the families of the injured.
The state’s lieutenant governor, Manoj Sinha, described the accident as “heartbreaking” and announced a separate compensation package for the victims.
Much of northern India lies in the Himalayan mountains and surrounding hills, where high-altitude roads are often narrow and contain many sharp turns, making them prone to accidents.
In November last year, at least 39 people were killed and 19 injured in a similar accident in the state’s Doda district when a passenger bus fell into a 300-foot gorge.
