Srinagar: A bus carrying 41 security personnel skidded off a mountain road and plummeted into a deep gorge in India-administered Kashmir, killing seven soldiers and injuring at least 32.
The injured soldiers were airlifted to an army hospital in the Himalayan region’s capital city Srinagar.
The incident took place yesterday in the mountainous region, which has narrow and sometimes deadly roads.
The passengers included 39 soldiers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force, a federal force specialising in high-altitude operations mainly on the India-China border, and two members of the Jammu and Kashmir police force.
The troops were travelling from the high-altitude cave shrine of Amarnath to a police control room in Srinagar.
They had been posted to the area for the Amarnath Yatra, which ended last week. The Amarnath Yatra, or journey, is an annual Hindu pilgrimage where thousands perform a perilous trek in the Himalayas to a cave shrine situated around 3,900m above sea level.
Officials said the preliminary cause of the accident in the southern Pahalgam area is suspected to be brake failure, but details will be revealed after an investigation.
“It appears the brakes of the bus, operated by Jammu and Kashmir police, failed and the bus slipped off the road. A formal enquiry has been ordered,” an ITBP official said.
Visuals from the crash site showed the remains of the bus in a gorge near the fast-flowing Lidder river as soldiers carried out rescue work.
Around 19 ambulances were rushed to the crash site following the accident to carry out a massive rescue operation.
The death toll is expected to rise as at least eight personnel have reportedly suffered serious injuries and are in a critical condition.
