At least seven persons were killed and three others injured Sunday when a minibus rolled down into a 200-feet deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, police said.
The accident occurred at Kewal villager near Budhal in the border district around 4.15 pm, a police official said.
He said a rescue operation was immediately launched after the vehicle skidded off the road and plunged into the gorge. Two persons were found dead on the spot while one succumbed to injures on the way to hospital in Kandi.
Later doctors referred six of the injured to district hospital in Rajouri for specialised treatment. It was learnt that four of the injured succumbed on the way to hospital, while two are still battling for life.
“Four person were brought dead here while out of the two other injured, the condition of a minor is critical,” said Dr Suresh Gupta, chief medical officer, Rajouri.
The deceased were identified as Kulwant Singh, Mohd Taj, Abdul Rashid, Mohd Faroooq, Mohd Mansoor, Kailah Devi and Sunnet Singh.
A case under relevant sections has been registered and further investigations are on.
Prima facie, brake failure is believed to be the cause of incident.
Teenager killed in Doda mishap
A teenage boy was killed and another critically injured when their motorcycle fell into a deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district, police said on Sunday. They were returning home from a picnic to Guldanda late on Saturday when the accident occurred, SP Raj Singh Gouria said.
The deceased identified as Waseem Ahmad and his injured friend Sohail Ganai were students of higher secondary school Bhadarwah and both were 18 years old, the SP said.
Ahmad lost control of the motorcycle while negotiating a blind curve near Thantera-Basti along Bhadarwah-Basholi highway and it fell into 100-feet deep gorge around 9.30 PM, Gouria said. Despite darkness, the locals launched a rescue operation and managed to take the duo to a nearby hospital where Ahmad succumbed while Ganai was referred to Government Medical College hospital Jammu.
Both the teenagers were not wearing helmets and rash driving is suspected to be the cause of the accident, the officer added.