Udhampur: Two people have died after a passenger bus skidded off the road and plunged into a deep gorge at Gulli Gala in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district on Wednesday morning, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said, according to ANI. The bus was travelling from Pachound to Ramnagar on the Basantgarh-Ramnagar road when the accident occurred at around 8 am, officials said.

In a post on X, Jitendra Singh shared details of the casualties and the medical response. "Two casualties have been reported. 10 injured have reached SDH Ramnagar. Out of 10, 3 are on their way to GMC Udhampur. 3 more ambulances are about to reach SDH Ramnagar," the Union Minister posted. He said he had spoken to Udhampur Deputy Commissioner Ananth Dwivedi and that all necessary assistance was being provided. Earlier, Dwivedi had said rescue teams, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and medical personnel had rushed to the spot, with no casualties reported at that stage.

PTI reported that two persons, including a young girl, were killed and 15 others injured in the accident. Local villagers were among the first to reach the spot and shifted 17 injured passengers to the Public Health Centre at Basantgarh for first aid, officials told PTI. The injured were later taken to the hospital in Ramnagar, where a woman and the young girl succumbed to their injuries. Six passengers were stated to be in a critical condition and were referred to the district hospital in Udhampur for specialised treatment, PTI said.

Jitendra Singh also said he had taken up the issue of construction of the Ramnagar to Basantgarh road with the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) authorities in Delhi. Senior BJP leader and Udhampur MLA Sunil Bhardwaj visited the hospital to meet the injured and expressed concern over the condition of the road where the bus fell, stressing the need for its upgradation, PTI reported.

The exact cause of the accident was yet to be ascertained, officials said, and rescue and relief operations were continuing. Awaaz Punjab had reported the accident earlier on Wednesday, when at least 10 passengers were known to be injured and no deaths had been reported.

Sources: ANI (via LatestLY and Devdiscourse), PTI (via KIMS Kashmir).