23 killed as bus falls into gorge

Ramban, Jun 18 (UNI) At least 23 persons were killed and equal number of others injured when a private bus carrying them skidded off the road and plunged into a deep gorge near Monkey Morh under Ramban police station in Doda district in the wee hours today.

The police told UNI that the incident occurred around 0530 hours on Jammu-Srinagar highway when a bus rolled down into a 400 feet deep gorge, killing 20 persons on the spot while three others died on the way to hospital.

All the injured have been indentified and shifted to government medical college, Jammu and state to be critical.

According to police, most of the victims were labourers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Nepal while a few were from Rajouri district of Jammu region. The ill-fated bus was on the way to Srinagar from Jammu.

Senior officials were camping on the spot and supervising the relief and rescue operation.

UNI RKS PK HT1622