Jammu/Banihal, Jan 04:
A mini-bus carrying tourists turned turtle inside the Banihal-Qazigund tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on Tuesday, leaving the 18-year-old driver dead and 20 travellers injured, officials said.
A mini bus (JK02AT-6530) boarding with 16 passengers, which was on its way to Srinagar from Kathua turned turtle near western tube inside Banihal-Qazigund (Navyuga) tunnel on the highway, officials told.
They said that the driver of the vehicle died on the spot and 11 others were also injured, adding that all the injured were taken to SDH Banihal and three of them were shifted to GMC Anantnag.
The deceased driver was identified as Tariq Ahmed, son of Mohammad Irshad of Tikri (Udhampur).
The injured were identified as Anil Verma, 62, son of BL Verma; Sushil Kumar, 50, son of Radha Ram; Chander Kali, 40, son of Damudhar; Riya, 21, daughter of Raj Kumar; Pinkey, 20, daughter of Chotu Lal; Anjali, 23, daughter of Damudhar; Sandhya, 45, wife of Rakesh Kumar; Uma Sharma, 45, son of Ram Avad; Inder Bhan, 45, son of Jagdish Bhan; Sana, 45, wife of Rakesh Kumar and Priya, 18, daughter of Dhamundher—all residents of Defence Colony Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.
The tourists from Uttar Pradesh were returning from the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine and were on their way to Srinagar to enjoy snowfall when the driver lost control inside the west tube of the four-lane tunnel around 4.30 pm due to over-speeding, the officials said.
They said 11 of the injured were later discharged after treatment while three are in “serious” condition, the officials said.
