At least 11 people were killed and a five-year-old was injured when a vehicle carrying them plunged into the Chenab River in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday morning, police said, adding to the growing number of fatalities in the country that has the world’s deadliest roads.
A local police officer said the vehicle was on its way to Kishtwar from Gulabgarh and the majority of the passengers were pilgrims returning from Machail Mata Yatra in Padder area.
“According to details with us, 11 people have died and another has been injured,” the officer said.
The identities of dead and injured will be ascertained once the rescue operation is over, he said. Personnel of the Indian Army and police and local residents have been pressed into operations.
“Another accident in Kishtwar, a vehicle carrying Yatries to Machail Mata rolled down in river Chenab 28 kilometres from Kishtwar towards Padder, 5 yrs child lone survivor,about dozen feared dead (sic),” director general of police (DGP) SP Vaid posted on his Twitter account.
India witnessed 17 deaths and 55 road accidents every hour in 2016, one of the highest in the world, according to the report released by the Union road transport and highways ministry.
The report compiled by the ministry’s Transport Research Wing said road accidents killed 150,785 people across India in 2017-18 — a 3.3% jump from 2016-17 when 146,000 lakh road fatalities were reported.