DEHRADUN/UTTARKASHI: In one of the most tragic accidents on the Char Dham yatra route, at least 25 people were killed and five injured when a bus carrying 28 pilgrims from Panna in Madhya Pradesh veered off the road and fell into a 150-metre deep gorge near Damta on Yamunotri national highway of Uttarkashi district on Sunday evening.
Police and local administration said there were 30 people onboard, including the vehicle's driver and helper. Till the time of filing of this report late on Sunday, 25 bodies had been brought out of the gorge while five injured were receiving treatment in a hospital in Damta.
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who reached the disaster management control room in Dehradun soon after news of the accident broke to supervise rescue and relief operations, said, "This is a very tragic accident. Our district and police officials are at the site and home minister Amit Shah has sent an NDRF team. ”
Expressing grief over the accident, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in a tweet, mentioned that he was in touch with the Uttarakhand government to collect updates. Chouhan was scheduled to leave for Uttarakhand on Sunday night to monitor relief and rescue operations and is slated to go to the accident early Monday morning.
Meanwhile, the 28 bus passengers were identified as Rajkumar, Raj Kuvar, Mena Prasad, Saroj, Badri Prasad, Karn Singh, Uday Singh, Hak Kiraja, Chanrkali, Moti Lal, Baldev, Kusum Bai, Anil Kumar, Karsn Bihari, Prabha, Shakuntla, Parvati, Silabai, Vishakant, Chandra Kala, Kachhedi Lal, Raja Bai, Dhani Ram, Kambai, Vindraven, Kamla, Ram Sakhi and Gita Bai. All are residents of Panna. Names of the dead were yet to be confirmed.
PM announces ₹2 lakh for next of kin of deceased
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of those who lost their lives. The injured would be given Rs 50,000 each.
The message was conveyed through a tweet by the Prime Minister's office.
Police sources said that the group of 28 pilgrims took a bus from either Haridwar or Rishikesh on Sunday morning for Yamunotri. The accident took place near Yamuna river in Damta, around 75-km from Yamunotri, an official said.
(with inputs from Bhopal)
