8 killed as bus carrying pilgrims from Amritsar to Katra falls into gorge

Eight people were killed when a bus carrying over 75 pilgrims from Amritsar in Punjab to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu & Kashmir’s Katra veered off a bridge and fell into a gorge at Jhajjar Kotli, around 35 km from Jammu, on Tuesday morning.

“Eight pilgrims have died and over 50 injured,” said Ajat Manhas, a local police officer.

A second police officer said that rescuers were immediately rushed to the scene and rushed the injured to Jammu’s Government Medical College and Hospital and a primary health centre in Jhajjar Kotli.

One of the pilgrims on the bus said that he suddenly felt a jolt before the bus fell off the bridge into the gorge. He added that at least eight to 10 have died.

Another pilgrim said he was sleeping when the bus suddenly went down. “There was chaos all around…”

Vivek, a local resident, said that he saw the bus going down around 5.30am. “…I saw this bus being driven at a high speed on a curve. It appears that either the driver lost control or the brakes failed. I along with a few other locals immediately went down into the gorge and after some time police and CRPF officials reached the spot.”

This is the second such accident in the area since May 21 when a pilgrim died, and 23 others were wounded in Katra’s Moori.