Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, Dec 4: Three officers of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department were among 29 people injured in two road mishaps in Kathua and Samba districts today.
A vehicle that was part of the cavalcade of the Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Ch. Sukhnandan and was carrying three senior officials of the Department including an SE and two Executive Engineers skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge in Jandrali area on the Bani -Basohli road in the Kathua district today, a police officer said.
He said that three senior officials including, Executive Engineer PHE, Sumit Puri, Executive Engineer Irrigation and Flood control, Ved Prakash and Superintending Engineer, Hydraulic, Kathua, Ashok Gandotra were seriously injured in the accident.
Police said that the three officials were the part of a cavalcade of the Minister of PHE who was on the tour of Bani area were on their way to Kathua. They were first taken to PHC Jindrali for first aid where from they were shifted to SDH Basholi and later airlifted to Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu in a special chopper for treatment.
Meanwhile, 26 people were injured, six of them seriously when a mini bus in which they were traveling turned turtle on Sumb road near Padel area in Samba this evening.
About 30 passengers were on board the mini-bus when the accident took place, the police said. The mini bus was on its way from Samba to Sumb when it turned turtle near Padel village this evening after the driver lost control over the vehicle. Around 26 passengers sustained injuries, six of them seriously, police spokesperson said.
The police along with the locals rushed to the spot and started the rescue operation. The injured passengers were rushed to Distict Hospital, Samba, where from six critically injured were referred to Government Medical College (GMC) and Hospital, Jammu for advanced treatment, he said.
The critically injured have been identified as Rita Devi, resident of Penthi, Shastri, resident of Mala Pangwal, Nitin Singh, resident of Druee, BSF Constable, RK Patil, Sanjeev Sharma, resident of Penthi and Balraj Singh resident of Karad village in Samba.
A case has been registered and investigations are on, police said.
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