16 Amarnath pilgrims die, 28 injured in highway accident

TIL Desk/National/Ramban/Jammu/ Sixteen Amarnath pilgrims were killed and around 31 were injured, when a bus skidded off the Jammu-Srinagar national highway and rolled into a deep nullah in the Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The deceased included two women and belonged to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Assam, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh, they said. Sixteen of the injured persons were critical, the officials added.

A J&K State Road Transport Corporation (JKSRTC) bus carrying pilgrims skidded off the road, turned turtle and rolled down into the nullah at Nachlana belt of Ramban late this afternoon, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ramban, Mohan Lal said.

The bus was part of a convoy carrying 3,603 pilgrims from Jammu to the twin base-camps of Baltal and Pahalgam for the pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed pain at the loss of lives and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of those killed and Rs 50,000 for the seriously injured.

According to police officials, 16 persons were killed and around 31 were injured in the accident. Out of them 21 were airlifted in a chopper to Jammu for specialised treatment and 10 were shifted to a Srinagar hospital.