10 passengers killed, 51 injured in Udhampur

Srinagar: Ten persons were killed and 51 others injured when an overloaded minibus they were travelling in skidded off the road and rolled down into a deep gorge in Udhampur district of Jammu region on Tuesday.   Official sources said that a minibus (JK14-7565), on its way to Sudh Mahadev resort from Udhamphur, met with the accident near the resort this morning and six persons died on the spot.  Three passengers died in Chinani hospital while one person succumbed in Udhamphur hospital, they said. Deputy Commissioner, Baseer Ahmad Khan told that fourteen among the injured were airlifted to Government Medical College Jammu and Udhamphur hospital.)  Accidents claim hundreds of lifves in the state every year. Last year alone, at least 1080 persons were killed in 6129 road accidents across the state. Jammu region leads the accident tally with 4303 incidents, claiming the lives of 777 persons while in Kashmir valley 1826 accidents were registered in which 303 persons lost their lives. As per the official record while the number of road accidents recorded in between Batote to Kisthtwar was 183 in 2008, it increased to 213 in 2008 and in year 2010 the number of road accidents was 256. Most accidents on the Jammu Kashmir Highway are in between Batote to Banihal and from Batote to Kisthtwar.