Kashmir: Accident Claims Lives of Four Kerala Tourists, Four Others Injured

Srinagar: Four tourists known to be from Kerala were killed and two other persons including the driver were injured when a SUV they were travelling in skidded off the road and plunged into a ravine along the 3,528-meter high Zoji(la) mountain pass in Kashmir Valley’s Ganderbal district on Tuesday.

The police sources said that the SUV with seven passengers and the driver on board met the accident at Yadav Morh along the road to Kargil, about 100-km north of capital Srinagar. The driver of the vehicle identified as Ajaz Ahmad Awan, a resident of Satrina village in the Kangan tehsil of Ganderbal, succumbed at a Srinagar hospital later, the sources said.

“A rescue operation was launched immediately after hearing about the mishap. However, four tourists believed to be Keralites who were coming from Kagril were already dead. The injured including the driver of the ill-fated vehicle were evacuated to the Public Health Centre at Sonamarg where a seriously injured tourist and the driver were referred to Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science for specialised treatment,” a police official said.

He added that two others passengers escaped with minor injuries. The identities of the deceased tourists are being ascertained, a spokesman of the Tourism Department, Kashmir said.