A bus carrying pilgrims to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine met with a tragic accident on the Jammu-Pathankot highway on Thursday, leaving one person dead and 39 others injured, officials confirmed.
The incident occurred at Jatwal in Samba district when the vehicle, travelling from Uttar Pradesh to Katra, suffered a tyre burst. The driver lost control, causing the bus to skid off the road near a small bridge and plunge into a gorge.
The victim has been identified as Iqbal Singh, 45, a resident of Amroha in Uttar Pradesh. A joint rescue effort was immediately launched, and all injured passengers were taken to the district hospital in Samba. Of these, seven were later shifted to AIIMS Vijaypur for advanced treatment.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed deep sorrow over the mishap. In a message shared on X, he said, “I am deeply saddened by the tragic bus accident in Samba involving Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims. My heartfelt condolences go out to the bereaved family. I pray for the speedy recovery of those injured and assure all possible assistance.”
The accident comes just days after the chief minister had reviewed rescue efforts in Kishtwar following a devastating cloudburst, where he noted that survival chances were slim due to the scale of destruction.
Authorities are investigating the exact cause of the accident, though preliminary reports point to the tyre burst as the trigger.
