Srinagar: Six persons were killed, and 22 others injured when a bus they were travelling in skidded off the road and plunged into a 200-feet-deep gorge in Ladakh’s Leh district, officials said. The bus, taking staff members of a school to a wedding function, fell into the gorge in the Durbuk area, Leh Deputy Commissioner Santosh Sukhadeve said.
The Ladakh police and Army, which quickly launched a rescue and relief operation, said that the mishap occurred at around 11.0 5 am. Besides the driver, the school bus was carrying 27 passengers, they said, adding that preliminary investigation into the accident revealed that the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a curve along the hilly road and fell in the gorge at Durbuk, about 5 kilometres east of Leh.
The dead and injured were initially evacuated to Military Hospital and Primary Health Centre at Tangste near Leh, the sources said adding that injured were later airlifted to Military Hospital at Leh. The Army’s ALH and Cheetal helicopters took as many as fourteen sorties to evacuate the injured to Leh, the sources added.
The condition of two of the injured persons is stated to be critical.
