Kathua: At least twenty-three devotees sustained injuries on Wednesday morning when a speeding passenger minibus veered off the highway and plunged into a deep roadside gorge in the hilly terrain of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district. The major traffic accident occurred along the vital Dhar Road near the Dingi Simbli area in the Billawar subdivision, heavily disrupting transit routes while emergency response protocols were fully mobilized.
The vehicle, bearing regional registration number JK21B 7776, was operating as an unscheduled tourist charter ferrying religious pilgrims from the rural Goran and Sumb villages located within the neighbouring Samba district. The group was en route to pay obeisance at the highly revered hill-top Mata Sukrala Devi Temple, situated at an altitude of approximately 3,500 feet near Billawar town, when the driver reportedly lost physical control of the steering wheel on a sharp curve. The vehicle immediately skidded off the paved edge of the mountain corridor and rolled down into the rocky ravine below, trapping multiple passengers inside the mangled metal framework.
Local residents from adjacent hamlets immediately rushed to the disaster spot upon hearing the impact, initiating spontaneous first-aid and extrication operations before localized units of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and regional civil administration teams arrived to reinforce the site. Emergency responders utilized specialized rescue equipment to pull the survivors up the steep incline before shifting all twenty-three injured victims to nearby sub-district medical facilities for immediate stabilization. Hospital authorities confirmed that while the majority of the passengers are being monitored for minor fractures and lacerations, at least four individuals have been downgraded to critical status with severe trauma injuries. Local traffic enforcement officials have formally registered an administrative case to determine whether mechanical failure, brake degradation, or human negligence caused the crash.
