5 Dead, 15 Injured As Tempo Falls Into Gorge In Jammu and Kashmir’s Billawar

KATHUA, Jan 20: Five passengers were killed and 15 others injured today when a Tempo rolled down into a deep gorge in Dhanu Parole area of Billawar tehsil in this district.
According to the reports, the mishap occurred this evening at about 4:40 under the jurisdiction of Police Station Billawar. Reports said that a Tempo Maxi Cab (bearing registration number JK06-2992) carrying passengers was on its way from Koug to Dhanu Parole when on reaching Sila near Dhanu Parole, it rolled down into a 100-150 meters deep gorge due to slippery conditions in view of rainy weather.
Locals immediately rushed to the spot and started rescue operation. Later, a team of Police Station Billawar led by SHO Sunil Sharma also reached the site of the accident and joined the rescue operation. Dead bodies of four passengers were recovered on the spot by the rescue team while 16 passengers with severe injuries were rescued and shifted to Sub District Hospital (SDH) Billawar for medical treatment.
Later, one of the injured persons identified as Kaku Ram son of Krishan Chand and resident of Dhanu Parole succumbed to his injuries at SDH Billawar, taking the death toll to five. The other four deceased persons were identified as Bantu son of Isher Das of Ward Number 9 (Padethar), Hansraj son of Munshi Ram of Ward Number 9 (Padethar), Ajeet Singh (32) son of Ram Chand, resident of Dhanu Parole and Amroo wife of Hansraj, resident of Ward Number 4 (Bathodi).The injured persons were identified as Liaquat Ali (10) son of Nami Din of Dhanu Parole, Jyoti (22) wife of Deep Kumar of Dhanu Parole, Deep Kumar (28) son of Thakur Singh of Dhanu Parole, Preeto Devi (40) wife of Rattan Singh of Dhanu Parole, Santo Devi (50) wife of Shankaar Dass of Dhanu Parole, Sudesh Kumar (30) son of Prem Chand of Padodi, Khem Raj (18) son of Pukh Raj of Banjal Bhadwal, Kewal (25) son of Rattan Chand of Dhanu Parole, Reshma Begum (25) wife of Nami Din of Dhanu Parole, Neelam (40) wife of Sanjay Kumar of Duggani, Sanjay Kumar (45) son of Hans Raj of Duggani, Surinder Kumar (24) son of Ramesh Kumar of Banjal Bhadwal, Ramesh Kumar (45) son of Bhagat Ram of Padodi, Kaku Ram (40) son of Krishan Chand of Dhanu Parole, Amrik Chand (27) son of Hans Raj of Padodi and Dalip Singh (26) son of Kartar Singh of Banjal Bhadwal.
Two passengers namely Reshma Begum and Neelam who had received serious injuries, were later referred from SDH Billawar to Government Medical College Kathua for specialized treatment.
A case in this connection was registered at Police Station Billawar and further investigation started to know the exact reason of the unfortunate mishap.