17 killed as bus falls into gorge in JK

At least 17 people were killed today while 34 others injured, 22 of them critically, when a passenger bus fell into a deep gorge near the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Ramban district.
The bus which was carrying passengers from Gujarat, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Jharkhand and was heading to Srinagar from Jammu, skidded off the road and rolled down into over 400-feet deep gorge at Digdol area on the highway.
Authorities took services of choppers and airlifted 17 critically injured passengers to GMC hospital in Jammu, a police spokesman said today.
Senior district and police officials had rushed to the spot and evacuated the injured to the district hospital with the assistance of Army, SDRF and CRPF personnel.

Some of the injured were admitted to District Hospital Ramban, the spokesman said.
In all 13 men and four women were killed in the mishap. Four of the dead belonged to Punjab, three from a family of Haryana, one from Jharkhand, three are unidentified and rest belonged to Jammu and Kashmir, a senior police official said.

A case has been registered against the driver at Ramban police station, as according to eyewitnesses he was driving the vehicle carelessly, the police official said.
The driver jumped off the bus during the accident and escaped.
State government has announced an ex gratia relief of Rs one lakh to the next of the kin of deceased while Rs 10,000 to the injured.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Governor N N Vohra have expressed grief over the loss of lives.