Two people were killed and 15 others injured after a passenger bus skidded off the road and plunged into a deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district on Wednesday morning, officials said. The dead are a woman and a six-year-old girl, who succumbed to their injuries at a hospital in Ramnagar. Six of the injured are in a critical condition and have been referred to the district hospital in Udhampur for specialised treatment.
Udhampur Bus Accident: The Crash at Gulli Gala
The bus was travelling from Pechound to Ramnagar when the accident occurred at Gulli Gala at around 8 am, officials told news agency PTI. The vehicle was reduced to a mangled heap of metal in the crash.
Volunteers from nearby villages were the first to respond and immediately launched a rescue operation at the site. They took 17 injured passengers to the Public Health Centre in nearby Basantgarh for first aid.
After receiving first aid at Basantgarh, the injured were shifted to Ramnagar hospital. It was there that the woman and the six-year-old girl died of their injuries, taking the final toll to two dead and 15 injured.
Questions Raised on Road Safety and Healthcare
Senior BJP leader and MLA Sunil Bhardwaj visited the hospital in Ramnagar to enquire about the condition of the injured passengers. He expressed concern over the condition of the road where the accident took place and called for its improvement to ensure safer travel in the area.
Bhardwaj also stressed the need to strengthen healthcare facilities in the constituency, so that timely medical assistance and better treatment are available, particularly during emergencies such as this one.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh spoke to Udhampur Deputy Commissioner Ananth Dwivedi after receiving information about the accident. Singh said all necessary assistance was being provided to those affected and that his office was in constant touch with the district administration.
The accident has renewed local demands for safer roads in the hill district and stronger emergency healthcare facilities, concerns that residents and representatives have raised after previous crashes on the stretch as well.
