Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Apr 4: In a tragic road mishap in South Kashmir district of Anantnag, 9 school children died while 9 others were injured, majority of them grievously, when a bus carrying them home from school fell into a gorge this evening.
DIG South Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar told Excelsior that a school bus (JK03-6929) of Moral High School Dialgam, Anantnag fell into a deep gorge near village Kandiwari, Kokernag, resulting in death of 9 students and injuries 10 including driver of the vehicle.
Reports said that driver of the mini bus lost control over the bus and it skidded off the road and fell into a 200 feet gorge. The ill-fated bus got mangled as it fell into stream bed full of boulders.
The residents of the area immediately rushed to the spot and carried out rescue operation. Police later joined them and six dead bodies were recovered from the mangled bus. SSP, Anantnag RK Jalla and ASP Mohammed Zaid along with SHO Kokernag rushed to the spot to supervise the rescue operation.
The Deputy Commissioner Anantnag Farooq Ahmad Lone and other senior officers of the district administration also reached to the spot to monitor the rescue operations.
Lone said that administration distributed a relief of Rs 1 lakh each to the families of the deceased from Chief Minister’s relief fund and Rs 10, 000 each to the family of the injured and Rs 25, 000 each to the family of deceased and Rs 10, 000 each to the families of the injured from Indian Red Cross.
Eleven children were recused and 9 of them are stated to be critical and they have been referred to Srinagar for treatment while two of them are undergoing treatment in District Hospital.
Six students died on the spot while one succumbed on way to hospital, one of them died in Anantnag hospital and another on way to Srinagar.
The dead students have been identified as Sweety Jan daughter of Mohammad Akbar Bhat, Tariq Ahmad son of Mohammad Yusuf Bhat, Dilshada daughter of Razak Kumar, Rafia daughter of Rehman Malik, Uzra Jan daughter of Shameem Bhat, Numan son of Mohammad Rafiq residents of Bona Kandiwari, Mudasir Ahmad Bhat son of Mohammad Yusuf Bhat, Nausheena daughter of Nazir Mir, Yasir Ahmad son of Bashir Khatana residents of Kandiwari.
Those who were injured have been identified as Aaqib Ashraf son of Mohammad Ashraf Bhat, Ishtiyaq Ahmad Khan son of Mushtaq Ahmad, Nifta Jan daughter of Mohammad Shafi Bhat, Junaid Ahmad Bhat son of Manzoor Ahmad, Umer Malik son of Abdul Rehman Malik residents of Kandiwari, Shakir Nazir son of Nazir Ahmad Mir, Yasir Ahmad Bhat son of Ghulam Hassan Bhat, Shaiqa Nina daughter of Nina Ahmad, Veifta Jan daughter of Mohammad Shafi and Yaseen Ahmad son of Ghulam Hassan and Saiqa Nina daughter of Nina Ahmad resident of Bon Kandiwara and driver of the bus Nisar Ahmad Wani son of Abdul Salam Wani.
Among the injured Aaqib Ashraf, Ishtiyaq Ahmad, Nifta Jan and Nisar Ahmad Wani were shifted to SKIMS Srinagar, Junaid Ahmad Bhat was shifted to SHMS, Shaiqa Ninaz, Numan, Veifta Jan and Yaseen Ahmad were shifted to Sub District Hospital Anantnag while as Umer Malik and Shakir Nazir were shifted to Bone and Joints Hospital Srinagar.
Inspector General of Police Kashmir Zone Abdul Ghani Mir visited the Anantnag hospital to see the injured and directed the district police authorities to provide all possible help to the injured and their relatives.
Pall of gloom descended the Kandiwari village in the hills of Kokernag as all the dead and injured belong to the same village. Everywhere people were seen crying and weeping as the bodies were taken out of the mingled bus and later to the graveyard for burial.
The villagers buried eight children in the evening while several villagers are in Srinagar and Anantnag where the injured are being treated. This is the worst bus mishap in Kashmir in the recent years in which 8 children died.
The villagers alleged that ambulances didn’t reach on time to the spot and some of the children could have been saved by timely evacuation.
Meanwhile, Governor N N Vohra has expressed grief over the loss of precious lives of school children in a tragic road accident in Anantnag district today.
In his message, the Governor has conveyed his sympathy to the bereaved families and prayed for speedy recovery of all those injured in this accident.
In view of the frequent recurrence of fatal road accidents, the Governor has yet again called upon the Transport, Traffic and Police Departments to take the most urgent measures to reduce the incidence of such accidents.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tonight tweeted that it wasn’t an old bus. “In fact it was a 2007 model, it wasn’t over loaded & the condition of the road was good. Need to investigate cause,” he said.
“Go out to the families of these young children & my prayers for the complete & speedy recovery of the injured,” he added.
Omar said he was shocked & dismayed over the tragic loss of life of the young school children killed in the bus accident. “My heart felt condolences to the bereaved families”.
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