WATCH: Jammu admin airlifts injured from Doda bus accident site

Jammu’s district administration has started airlifting the injured after a bus skidded off the road and rolled down into a 300-foot-deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district on Wednesday.

#WATCH | Doda bus accident | Injured being airlifted to Jammu by district administration pic.twitter.com/oeSyYSqnnN

— ANI (@ANI) November 15, 2023

The incident has left 36 people dead.

Expressing grief over the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.

“My condolences to the families who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest,” Modi said on X.

The bus accident in Doda, Jammu and Kashmir is distressing. My condolences to the families who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest.

An ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. Rs.…

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) November 15, 2023

President Droupadi Murmu said, “I am deeply saddened by the news of the unfortunate death of several passengers in a bus accident in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir. I express my condolences to the bereaved family members and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured.”

Officials said the bus bearing registration number JK02CN-6555 was reportedly carrying around 40 passengers. They said it skidded off the road near Trungal-Assar on the Batote-Kishtwar national highway and fell 300 feet downhill.

Police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel, besides locals, are involved in the rescue operation, they said, adding that some of the injured passengers have been shifted to hospitals.