At least 36 passengers were killed and 19 were injured after a bus fell into a gorge in Uttarakhand’s Almora on Monday. Over 30 people were inside the bus, which was going from Pauri district’s Nainidanda to Nainital’s Ramnagar when the accident took place.
Police and teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are at the accident site in Marchula’s Salt area and rescue operations are on. According to sources, overloading of the bus could be a reason behind the accident.
Almora Superintendent of Police Devendra Pincha said that the death toll is expected to rise. The accident was reported to authorities at around 9 am by passengers who had fallen from the bus during the incident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the family of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh each for the families of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh each for the injured, news agency ANI reported. He directed the Commissioner of the Kumaon division to conduct a magisterial inquiry into the incident.
The Chief Minister also ordered the suspension of the assistant regional transport officer (Enforcement) of the area.
“Very sad news has been received about the casualties of passengers in the unfortunate bus accident that took place in Marchula of Almora district. The district administration has been instructed to carry out relief and rescue operations swiftly,” the Chief Minister said in a post on X in Hindi.
“The local administration and SDRF teams at the accident site are working rapidly to evacuate the injured and take them to the nearest health center for treatment. Instructions have also been given to airlift seriously injured passengers if required,” he added in his post.