MUZAFFARABAD: In what police described as one of the worst road accidents in months, 22 passengers, including women and children, died and 14 others were injured after a Rawalpindi-bound coach plunged into a ravine in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Wednesday.

The 40-seat coach fell at about 9:30am near Majhiari village of Sudhnoti district, hardly seven kilometres from the place from where it had started its journey for Rawalpindi via Kotli district, Poonch DIG Rashid Naeem Khan told Dawn.

He said it was assumed that some technical fault had made the vehicle veer to the right and careen down the road into the ravine though no exact account was available to confirm it.

Sardar Farooq Ahmed Tahir, a former AJK minister, told Dawn that a man selling pakoras close to the accident site immediately phoned a prayer leader in the Majhiari village to inform him about the accident. Subsequently, calls for help were made from the mosque through loudspeakers, encouraging locals to rush to the site and rescue accident victims.

Mr Tahir, who himself was among the volunteers, said the bus had fallen at a depth which was nearly inaccessible due to the steep slope of the mountain. However, he said, villagers from all nearby areas showed great courage and commitment to evacuate the survivors, retrieve the bodies and shift them and their belongings to the main road within a few hours.

Footage and pictures shared on the social media by rescuers showed the upper part of the vehicle had been wiped off in the accident.

DIG Khan said the accident left 22 persons dead and 14 others injured, 12 of whom were referred to District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital, Kotli. “It was the most devastating road accident in many months,” he said.

The deceased were later identified as Abdul Hussain, 50, son of Jumma Khan; Abdul Karim, 55, son of Lal Deen, Mohammad Jamil, 30, son of Faqeer Mohammad; Abdul Karim, 17, son of Suhbat Ali; Naila, 30, wife of Mohammad Akhlaq, and her nine-year-old daughter Mahira; Mohammad Mansoor, 20, son of Maqsood Ali; Mohammad Shafi, 75, son of Feroz Deen; Mohammad Nazir, 50, son of Sajawal; Haroon (a soldier), 35, son of Mohammad Azeem; Mohammad Safeer, 45, son of Gul Hussain; Rukhsana Khanum, 40, wife of Rehmatullah; Mohammad Umar, 25, son of Mohammad Bashir; Abida Parveen, 40, wife of Mohammad Mustafa and her four-year-old son Mujtaba; Noreen, 30, wife of Mohammad Jamil; Rashida Begum, 45, widow of Mohammad Younas; Hafiz Adnan Tariq, 27, son of Tariq Mahmood; Barkat Jan, 60, wife of Mohammad Sharif; Zubeda Kousar, 35, wife of Safeer Ahmed, Shakila, 40, daughter of Khawaja Mohammad and Hamida Jan, 60, wife of Mohammad Nazir.

Dr Nasrullah Sadiq, Medical Superintendent at the Kotli DHQ Hospital, confirmed to Dawn that they had received 12 injured persons. Of them, seven had been detained in the facility while five were shifted to PIMS Islamabad on account of their highly critical condition. The injured included five children, aged between 30 months and seven years.

Road accidents frequently occur in AJK and are blamed mostly on careless driving, poor maintenance and overloading of public transport vehicles. Just five days ago, five of the 10 persons travelling on a mini jeep were killed in an accident towards the north of AJK’s capital, while four schoolchildren and an equal number of adults were killed in two accidents in Poonch and Neelum areas on Oct 21.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2021