5 Dead, 12 Injured As Bus Plunges Into Gorge in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri

The bus, which was on its way to Jammu from Surankote Poonch, slid off the road and fell into the gorge at Deri Ralyot in the Manjakote area.

(Photo: PTI)

Five were killed and 12 others were injured when the bus they were travelling in plunged into a deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said on Thursday, 15 September.

The bus, which was on its way to Jammu from Surankote Poonch, slid off the road and fell into the gorge at Deri Ralyot in the Manjakote area, they said.

Security forces and local residents have launched a rescue operation.

The district administration is providing "all possible assistance,” the Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor said on Twitter.

This comes only a day after 11 people were killed and 28 others injured in in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, when a minibus on its way from Mandi to Sawjian met with an accident.

In that incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the victims' families, and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured persons.

"The loss of lives due to an accident in Poonch is saddening. My thoughts are with all those who lost their loved ones. Wishing the injured a speedy recovery. Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 would be given to the injured," the PM's office had said in a tweet.

(With inputs from PTI.)