Five Army soldiers were killed and five others critically injured when a truck in which they were travelling plunged into a nearly 300 ft deep gorge along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch district on Tuesday evening.
The Army has ruled it out to be a terrorist Initiated Incident after confirming from ground sources.
The vehicle plunged about 130 metres away from the border post and the backup vehicle was barely 40 metres away, said a defence spokesman.
Reports said that the mishap occurred around 5.40 pm when the Army vehicle of 11 Maratha Light Infantry (MLI), which was en route from Nilam Headquarters to Balnoi Ghora Post, met with an accident upon reaching Ghora Post.
The vehicle fell into a deep gorge, around 300-350 feet deep, resulting in serious injuries to 8-9 jawans.
The Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of 11 MLI rushed to the spot and a police party from Mankote also reached the spot.
The injured soldiers have been shifted to the Army’s Field Hospital at Poonch.
Confirming the incident, the White Knight Corps of the Indian Army wrote on X: “All ranks of #WhiteKnightCorps extend their deepest condolences on the tragic loss of five brave soldiers in a vehicle accident during operational duty in the #Poonch sector. Rescue operations are ongoing, and the injured personnel are receiving medical care.”
A defence spokesman said that a 2.5 ton vehicle, part of convey of six vehicles, while plying on the Operational Track near Poonch went off the road into a nallah. Operational track is on the home side of the LOC fence.
Ten soldiers were travelling in the ill-fated vehicle. The cause of the accident is being ascertained. Possibly the driver lost control at the turn of the road, said the spokesman.