Uttarkashi Accident: Death Tolls Rises to 24, PM Expresses Grief

An ex-gratia amount of Rs 2 lakh was announced for the families of the deceased from the PM National Relief Fund.

Rescue operations in Uttarkashi after a bus fell into a river. (Photo: PTI)

Twenty-four pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh were killed when their bus fell into Bhagirathi river near Nalupani on Tuesday evening. The bus with 28 passengers was returning from Gangotri shrine in the Himalayas.

An ex-gratia amount of Rs 2 lakh has been announced for the families of the deceased from the Prime Minister National Relief Fund. The injured have been promised a compensation of Rs 50,000.

Regarding the incident, PM Modi was quoted by ANI as saying:

My prayers & solidarity with those who lost their loved ones in unfortunate bus accident in Uttarkashi. May the injured recover soon.

PM Narendra Modi

The mishap occurred at around 6 pm as the bus fell 300 metres down the road into the river, Uttarkashi District Magistrate Ashish Shrivastava said.

Rescue efforts by the SDRF, the ITBP, and the police, under the supervision of senior officials continued in darkness, he said.

The bus was ferrying Chardham pilgrims from Gangotri in the Himalayas to Haridwar from where they had to go to Kedarnath.

The state urban development minister who is in-charge of Uttarkashi district, Madan Kaushik, on Wednesday visited Uttarkashi to enquire about the accident victims.

Kaushik, who went to Uttarkashi in a helicopter, has brought four of the injured along with him to Dehradun where they have been admitted to Max Hospital.

Thousands of tourists visiting the Chardham in Uttarakhand have been stranded due to landslides in the region.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI.)