JAMMU, April 4, 2013
Eight students died and 11 sustained injuries when a school bus carrying them home skidded off the road and plunged into a 250 feet ravine in Kokernag area of southern Kashmir on Thursday.
Ramesh Kumar Jalla, Senior Superintendent of Police, Anantnag, told The Hindu that a 20-seater minibus carrying students of Moral High School, Dyalgam plunged into a ravine at Kundiwara. Six girls and two boys died and 11 others, including the driver, sustained injuries. Evacuated by rescue teams, eight of the injured were admitted to SKIMS, a tertiary care hospital in Srinagar, and three more to the Bone and Joint Hospital. All the students were reportedly in the age group of six to 15 years.
The SSP said police were looking into the cause of the accident, though the driver was reportedly talking on his cell phone when the accident occurred in the afternoon. Mr. Jalla said 14 school bags were recovered from the accident site.
