17 people died in a bus accident in Uttarakhand

As many as 17 people died on Sunday after a bus carrying 30 passengers fell into a gorge in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand.

The bus was coming from Panna district in Madhya Pradesh. At least five people were severely injured and rushed to a hospital. Rescue operations are underway.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh each for the families of the deceased, and ₹50,000 for the injured.

Union minister Amit Shah expressed his grief at the accident and said he had spoken to chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami about the accident.

“It is very sad to hear about the bus of devotees falling into the gorge in Uttarakhand. I have spoken to the Chief Minister @pushkardhami ji on this. Local administration and SDRF teams are engaged in rescue work and the injured are being taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. NDRF is also reaching there soon,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

Dhami is currently at the Disaster Control Room in Dehradun and is monitoring the situation from there. According to the chief minister’s office, Dhami has directed the district administration to carry out relief and rescue work, apart from providing proper treatment to the injured.