Fourteen persons, including three women, were killed and 31 injured when a bus carrying 45 passengers fell into a nulla in a remote area of Chamba district this evening, police said.
"The bus was on its way from Sanghni to Dalhousie when the mishap occurred. Seven persons died on the spot while three others succumbed to injuries on way to hospital and four others died in the hospital," said Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Salooni, Ajay Prashar, who supervised the rescue operations.
The SDM said the eight deceased were locals and two were from Sangrur in Punjab while four others are yet to be identified.
The condition of ten passengers was stated to be critical at the Bathri civil hospital from where they were referred to Tanda medical college at Kangra for further treatment.
The rescue operation has been completed and all the passengers have been taken out of the accident spot. The injured persons were taken to the hospital in Bathri and Banikhet, Prashar said.
Immediate relief of Rs 10,000 each was being given to the next of the kin of the deceased and Rs 5,000 each to the injured persons by the district administration, the SDM said.
Chief Minister has expressed grief over the tragic mishap and extended condolences to the families who lost their near and dear ones.
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The deceased in the car accident have been identified as Shrawan Kumar and Ravinder Kumar from Shorang, Sanjeev Kumar, Pawan Kumar, Deepak, Shrawan, Yogesh Kumar, Durga Singh, Rajender Kumar and Mukesh Kumar(driver), all from Kamba.
The others are Arvind and Abhishek from Koot Rampur and the injured who succumbed to his injuries has been identified as Hari Krishan.
Meanwhile, three more persons injured in an accident involving a private bus in Chamba district yesterday succumbed to their injuries, raising the death toll to 17, police said.
Himachal Pradesh governor Acharya Devvrat and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh have expressedshock and grief over death of 36 persons in three accidents in the past 24 hours.
Singh said that the drivers should be very cautious while driving and avoid negligent and rash driving.
Though report of both the accidents which occurred yesterday are yet to be received but as per initial investigation and statement of eyewitnesses, it was negligence on part of the drivers, which led to the two accidents.
The law and order agencies should take stringent action against those violating traffic norms and indulging in drunken driving or using mobile phones, Singh said.
"We can't tolerate loss of precious lives due to negligence on part of drivers and human error," he added.
