As many as seven people were killed while 11 others were injured after a bus filled with passengers skidded off the road and fell onto a road below in the Chalunj area of Chamba district early Saturday morning, officials said.
The bus, en route to Bairagarh from Chamba, met with an accident near the Chalunj bend. The bus reportedly skidded off the road and fell down, they said.
According to rescuers and local volunteers, several passengers were trapped under the bus, and efforts to rescue them were underway at the accident site.
While it was clear that seven people were killed in the accident, the identities and exact number of those injured were yet to be ascertained.
Rescuers and officials have rushed all those injured to a nearby hospital. However, officials believe that the death toll could rise given the condition of some of the injured.
Churah MLA Hans Raj expressed grief over the loss of lives. Describing the accident near Chalunj as “extremely painful”, he expressed condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.
The latest accident comes months after an earlier accident in May left eight people, including seven tourists from Bengaluru and their driver, dead when their vehicle plunged into a deep gorge on the Bairagarh-Sach Pass Road.
This is a developing story; more details shall follow as they emerge.
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