21 die in road accidents in Jammu and Kashmir
By IANSFriday, May 21, 2010
JAMMU - At least 21 people, including a major of the Indian Army, were killed Friday and 40 injured in three road accidents in Jammu and Kashmir.
Major Vasant Gaurav was killed and a Lt. Colonel injured when their jeep was hit by a truck ferrying construction material in Sunderbani of Rajouri district, about 120 km north of Jammu.
In another accident near Surankote in Poonch district, about 200 km north of Jammu, a jeep of the Indian Army fell into a gorge, killing five soldiers, according to defence spokesperson Lt. Col. Biplab Nath.
In a third accident, a bus on its way from Reasi to Mahore rolled down a gorge at Bidda, about 130 km north of here, killing seven people. Eight people later succumbed to their injuries in hospital.
More than a dozen injured have been shifted to a Jammu hospital.
Jammu Divisional Commissioner Pawan Kotwal told reporters that helicopters were pressed into service to airlift the injured.
“Some of the injured are in very critical condition,” a doctor at Jammu’s Government Medical College told IANS.
