DODA: In Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district on Wednesday, a bus carrying passengers skidded off the road and rolled down into a 300-foot gorge, inflicting at least 38 fatalities and injuring 20, according to officials. According to reports, the bus with registration number JK02CN-6555 was carrying 58 passengers when it skidded off the Batote-Kishtwar national highway near Trungal-Assar and fell 300 feet downhill. According to the officials, a rescue operation has begun, and some bodies have been recovered. There will probably be more deaths. A police spokesperson stated that the bus was travelling from Kishtwar to Jammu when the accident happened at Trungal-Assar at approximately 11:50 am.Lieutenant Colonel Suneel Bartwal, the Public Relations Officer (Defence), said in a statement that 38 people were killed in the incident, of whom 32 were initially pronounced dead and 20 injured. “In a commendable display of promptness and coordination, the Indian Army, in collaboration with civil administration, conducted a swift rescue operation in response to a grievous accident on National Highway 244 at Assar, near Wani Mod, approximately 4 km from COB ASSAR towards Batote,” according to him. According to Bartwal, the bodies are being transported to the Doda Civil Hospital and the Assar Primary Health Centre. He also stated that there were 58 people on board the unfortunate bus at the time of the incident. 37 people were slain and 19 injured, including four who were taken to the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital in Jammu, according to a statement made earlier by Doda Deputy Commissioner Harvinder Singh. “This is a regrettable occurrence. The accident was allegedly caused by the bus not being driven on the correct side, Singh stated at this point. The bodies of some of the deceased will be given to their relatives after they have been identified. “We examined every detail of the car. Perhaps it wasn’t being driven correctly. The car rolled down after jumping over the crash barriers, according to Singh. He said there will be an investigation into the incident. Both Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed their sorrow over the incident. “It is upsetting that a bus accident occurred in Doda, Jammu and Kashmir. I send my sympathies to the families who have lost loved ones. Modi stated on X, “I hope the injured people heal as soon as possible. He declared that the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) would provide an ex-gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh each to the deceased’s next of kin and Rs 50,000 each to the injured. I was deeply saddened to hear of the tragic bus accident in Doda, Jammu & Kashmir, which claimed many precious lives. In the gorge where the bus accident occurred, the local government is in charge of the rescue effort. On X, Shah expressed, “My sincere condolences to the families of the departed and prayers for a quick recovery for the injured. The bus sustained severe damage as a result of the fall from a significant height, according to sources. They added that some of the injured passengers have been transported to hospitals and that the rescue effort involves not only locals but also members of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police. Four of the injured were airlifted to the GMC hospital in Jammu after they were initially taken to a hospital in Doda. The rescue effort is being immediately overseen by high ranking police and civil administration officials. According to the officials, the bus was carrying more passengers when it rolled into the gorge after overturning during a “U” turn. They also said that after some sections of the bus were cut away, the bodies were removed. According to the officials, some of the bodies had severe mutilations. Residents voiced concern about the state of the road, claiming that it not only contributed to this accident but also to a number of other tragedies in the past. The bus was travelling to Jammu from Kishtwar. The sarpanch of the area where the accident occurred, Mohammad Ashraf, told reporters that 36 people died thereAt least ten accidents have occurred in Doda recently, according to Ashraf and other locals who started the rescue effort. Despite this, the administration has not yet taken any action. “We provided Rs 6 lakh for the road’s repairs. They were unable to fix it. The money has been embezzled by them. Only a few months prior, a similar accident occurred here, resulting in numerous fatalities,” he continued. Deeply hurt by the deaths in the tragic bus accident that occurred in Assar, Doda. I send my sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and hope that the accident victims heal quickly. “I have instructed Div Com and Dist Admin to furnish the impacted individuals with all essential aid,” Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha stated on X. Most likely, this is Doda’s largest accident in recent memory. On July 1, 2019, a packed minibus in Kishtwar’s Sangwari neighbourhood went off the road and into a gorge, killing 35 people and injuring 17. In the Dandaran neighbourhood of Kishtwar, on September 14, 2018, a minibus skidded off the road and fell into a gorge, killing 17 people and injuring 16. At the Dangduru dam site in the Dachan area of Kishwar, on May 24, this year, a cruiser vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a gorge, resulting in seven fatalities and three injuries. On August 30, a car in Kishtwar skidded off the road and fell into a 300-foot gorge, leaving eight people dead and three critically injured. On June 27, a car on the Bhadarwah-Pathankot road in Doda fell into a gorge, killing five people and injuring twelve more. The Doda district saw six fatal traffic accidents between October 8 and October 20.
