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 MP veered off the road and fell into a 150-metre deep gorge near Damta on the Yamunotri national highway of Uttarkashi district on Sunday evening.
Police and local administration said there were 30 people on board, 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.
At least 25 people were killed when a bus carrying 28 pilgrims from Panna in MP fell into a gorge near Damta in Uttarkashi on Sunday. The five injured have been hospitalised in Damta.
Uttarakhand CM 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 Union home minister Amit Shah has sent an NDRF team.” Expressing grief over the accident, MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in a tweet, said he was in touch with the Uttarakhand government. He was scheduled to leave for Uttarakhand on Sunday to monitor relief and rescue operations and is slated to go to the accident site on Monday morning.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased. The injured would be given Rs 50,000 each. With inputs from Bhopal
