Bus accident kills six and injures 60 in Kangra

Kangra, July 30 (UNI) Six pilgrims, including a woman, were killed and 60 injured, six of them seriously, when a private bus, they were travelling in, rolled down into a gorge in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, police said today .

Kangra ASP Santosh Patial told UNI that the accident occurred near Ranital, about 15 kms from here, early this morning when the bus with 66 pilgrims was on its way to Jawalamukhi temple from here.

Two pilgrims, identified as Ranjeet, 60, and Ms. Prem Lata, 60, both residents of Khushi Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh died on the spot, while Mohinder, 35, Ziladhar Singh, 50, driver of the bus, died on way to the local civil hospital here.

Mr Patial said two more people, identified as Raj Kumar, 35, and Gyana Singh, 45, succumbed to their injuries in the Dr R P Government Medical College and Hospital at Dharamshala.

The seriously injured were admitted to government hospital at Dharamshala after being administered first aid at a government hospital at Kangra, he said.

The ASP said six seriously injured pilgrims were under undergoing treatment at the Dr R P Government Medical College and Hospital.

The injured were being provided with free medical treatment by the district administration, he said.

The district administration has an immediate relief of Rs 25,000 each to the next of kin of the dead and a sum of Rs 10,000 each to the seriously injured.

Local MLA and OBC Chairman Surendar Kaku, who visited the injured in the hospital, has expressed grief and shock at the accident.

Former state agriculture minister Vidya Sagar and former zila parishad chairman Ratan Jagat Amba also visited the hospital to inquire about the condition of the injured pilgrims.

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