At least seven passengers were killed and two others seriously injured when the minibus they were travelling in skidded off the road and fell into Kalnai river today afternoon on Thathri-Gandoh road, some 42 kms from Doda town.
A police official told Greater Kashmir that the bus (JK06A-6733) was on its way from Doda to Chilli when the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a curve near Piyakul in Kahara area of the Doda district.
“Such was the impact of the accident, the vehicle after hitting the boulders, broke into two parts,” he said.
SP Bhadarwah Raj Singh Gouria told Greater Kashmir that the police, Army and locals immediately rushed to the spot and rescued all passengers and shifted them to Trauma Hospital Thathri, where doctors declared four of them as brought dead.
“Five injured persons were shifted to GMC Doda, where one injured woman also succumbed, taking the death toll to five,” he added.
However, late in the night two more persons succumbed, taking the death toll to seven. An official said that two injured persons who were airlifted to GMC Jammu passed away there.
Some of the deceased have been identified as Yasir Hussain (26) S/O Bashir Ahmed R/O Dhrouth, Shukar Din (60) S/O Abdul Aziz R/O Tanta-Kahara, Kali Begum (50) W/O Abdul Karim R/O Piyakul, Anju Devi (28) S/O Sunil Kumar R/O Sewa Chirala and Sudesha Devi (40) W/O Man Singh R/O Suhanda Shiva.