At least 39 pilgrims were injured after a bus travelling to the Amarnath Yatra skidded off the road and crashed onto a house in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district early Tuesday.
The accident took place
at the S-Mode stretch in Hariganiwan near Gund in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, when the bus was heading towards the Amarnath Cave Shrine.
According to the details, the driver allegedly lost control of the speeding vehicle while negotiating a sharp curve.
The bus veered off the road and plunged downhill before crashing onto a residential house.
The impact caused extensive damage to the structure.
Officials were quoted as saying that the house prevented the bus from rolling further into the Sindh River, potentially averting a much bigger tragedy.
No one was inside the house when the accident occurred.
Videos from the scene showed the overturned bus lying on the damaged structure as security personnel, rescue teams and locals rushed to evacuate injured passengers.
Other visuals captured the aftermath of the crash and the rescue operation, with ambulances transporting the injured to hospital.
Personnel from the Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Jammu and Kashmir Police, assisted by residents, launched a swift rescue operation.
All injured passengers were evacuated from the accident site and shifted to hospitals for treatment.
According to news agency PTI, most of the passengers suffered minor injuries.
The injured pilgrims were reported to be from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.
Authorities launched further assessment of the incident, while the exact cause of the accident was yet to be officially confirmed.
Relief and rescue operations were completed after all passengers were safely evacuated.
The Amarnath Yatra, one of India’s largest annual pilgrimages, witnesses thousands of devotees travelling to the Himalayan shrine every year under elaborate security arrangements.
