At least 11 passengers died and nineteen others were injured, five of them critically, in a road accident in Mandi tehsil of Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. An official said that a passenger bus heading towards Poonch from Loran skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge at Plera around 9:15 am.
He said that at least eleven persons travelling on the bus died in the accident while nineteen others were injured. The injured were shifted to sub-district hospital Mandi for treatment. It is not clear how the accident happened but initial reports suggest the driver lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a bend.
Most of the routes from Poonch headquarters to villages are steep with small villages nestled atop mountains. Poonch is 210 km from Srinagar through the Mughal road which is closed now due to snow accumulation at Pir Ki Gali and 250 from Jammu, a road which keeps the district linked throughout the year. Accidents like these are common in the twin districts of Pir Panjal that comprises Poonch and Rajouri.