SRINAGAR: At least 37 people were killed in India-held Kashmir on Wednesday when a passenger bus skidded off a mountainous road and plunged into a deep gorge, police said.

The accident took place on a remote road in the Doda area, about 200 kilometres southeast of Srinagar, the capital of India occupied Kashmir.

Local government official Harvinder Singh said 37 people had been killed. Police said they feared the death toll could rise, with at least 18 people injured in the crash taken to hospital.

The accident was “caused by the driver’s negligence by hitting the crash bar of the road”, police officer Sunil Gupta said. “The bus tumbled down the mountain some 250 metres (800 feet),” he said.

A video clip from the site showed a grisly scene of several dead bodies, as rescuers tried to help the injured.

Prime Minister Nare­ndra Modi said the accident was “distressing” and offered his “condolences to the families who have lost their near and dear ones”.

“I pray that the injured recover at the earliest,” he said on social media, adding that government compensation of more than $2,400 would be offered to the next of kin of those killed and $600 to those injured.

Home Minister Amit Shah said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that he was “deeply anguished to learn about the loss of precious lives”. “The local administration is conducting the rescue operation in the gorge where the bus had the accident.”

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2023