UPDATES DEATH TOLL TO 16 FROM 11, HEADLINE CHANGED TO REFLECT NEW TOLL
By Zahid Rafiq
SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) – Sixteen Hindu pilgrims were killed and 30 others injured when their bus fell into a ravine in Jammu and Kashmir, according to police.
The bus slid off the highway in Banihal area while it was on way for the Amarnath pilgrimage.
Senior Superintendent of Police Ramban Mohan Lal confirmed the death and injury toll, adding that 19 seriously injured pilgrims were airlifted to Jammu for treatment.
The cause of the accident remains unclear.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was “extremely pained by the loss of lives of Amarnath Yatris due to a bus accident in J&K”.
The accident comes just few days after eight Amarnath pilgrims were killed in an alleged militant attack in the disputed region’s Anantnag district.
Over 200,000 Hindu pilgrims from across India visit the Amarnath cave in the mountainous south during the 40-day long annual pilgrimage.
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.
The two countries have fought three wars — in 1948, 1965 and 1971 — since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir. Kashmiri resistance groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
More than 70,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict since 1989. India maintains more than half a million troops in the disputed region.
