75 hurt as bus falls into narrow gorge

HAMIRPUR, July 19: At least 75 persons, mostly young men and children, were injured, including 12 of them seriously, when a private bus o...

HAMIRPUR, July 19: At least 75 persons, mostly young men and children, were injured, including 12 of them seriously, when a private bus on its way from Hamirpur to Sujanpurtira fell into a narrow gorge near Chowki village, about 6 km from here today.

Four of the injured were in a critical condition and were being operated upon at the local district hospital.

Himachal Pradesh Parliamentary Secretary Urmila Thakur, Rajya Sabha MP Anil Sharma, Deputy Commissioner Manoj Kumar and SP Jagjit Kumar Gupta rushed to the spot and supervised the relief and rescue operations. They also visited the district hospital and met the injured persons.

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Hundreds of villagers from adjoining areas reached the accident spot within minutes of the accident and helped in extricating the injured from the ill-fated bus. Eye-witnesses told UNI that the alleged rash and negligent driving by the bus driver led to the accident.

According to them, at least 25 persons were also travelling on the roof of the bus. Most of the young men were going to Allahabad in Kangra district for an Army recruitment rally to be held here tomorrow.

Manoj Kumar and Jagjit Kumar Gupta told ENS that all possible medical help was being given to the injured. Parents of the injured would be informed once a complete list of the persons was made available.