At least 17 Amarnath pilgrims were killed and 19 seriously injured when a bus carrying them from Jammu to Kashmir rolled into a gorge near Banihal on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Sunday. Eight other passengers of the bus escaped with minor injuries, police said.

Preliminary reports said that the left wheel of the ill-fated bus of the J&K State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) burst as a result of which it skidded towards the steep slope and rolled into the gorge. Sixteen pilgrims died on the spot and their bodies were carried uphill by residents of the nearby villages who were the first to reach the spot and got engaged in the rescue operations.

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A helicopters of the IAF swung into action and flew the seriously injured pilgrims to the medical colleges at Jammu and Srinagar for treatment. Eighteen injured pilgrims have been flown to the Jammu medical college and 11 critically injured to the medical institute and medical college at Srinagar for treatment.

Most of the pilgrims who died were from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and their identities were being established by the police.
The police has established helpline numbers: 9596770510 and 9596770527.

Police said that the mishap occurred near the Sherbibi area where condition of the road was also bad. The highway was closed for vehicular traffic twice this morning due to shooting stones and landslides at five places.

The bus carrying about 45 pilgrims had left Jammu at 4.30 a.m. for the base camp of Amarnath pilgrimage at Pahalgam and was travelling in a convoy under tight security when it went off the road. More than 3,600 pilgrims had left Jammu for the Valley this morning.

Divisional Commissioner Mandeep Bhandari said that the injured were first rescued to the sub-district hospital at Banihal where they were given first aid and then flown to the medical colleges at Jammu and Srinagar for treatment.

Army and police rescue teams reached the spot and it was a difficult task retrieving the bodies and rescue the injured from the gorge.

Governor NN Vohra accompanied by the chief secretary BB Vyas flew to Banihal to personally take stock of the rescue operations. They visited the hospital and enquired about welbeing of the injured.

The accident has come within a week of the terrorist attack on a bus on the highway near Anantnag in which the death toll has increased to eight.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah have expressed grief over the mishap. Mehbooba was personally monitoring the rescue and relief operations from Srinagar.