Bus accident: Uttarakhand orders probe, PM Modi announces Rs 2 lakh for kin of deceased

While five injured in the incident were shifted to Dehradun for treatment, a special Army helicopter is bringing the bodies of the deceased to Khajuraho airport in Madhya Pradesh, from where it will be sent to their respective families for cremation.

On Monday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan inspected the accident site and talked to the relatives of deceased Ramsakhi and Banke Bihari. The two chief ministers also talked to some passengers from Madhya Pradesh who travelled in another bus.

A statement issued by the Uttarakhand government said all bodies were recovered from the gorge on Sunday night. “The process of post-mortem was completed in the night itself. The bodies have been sent to Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun… CM Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered a magisterial inquiry,” said the statement.

Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan meet relatives of victims of a bus accident in Damta area of Uttarkashi. (PTI)

On Sunday evening, the bus carrying devotees to Yamunotri Dham fell into a gorge around 4 km ahead of Damta under Purola police station in Uttarkashi. According to the police, prima facie it appears that the bus was speeding as it tore through the crash barriers and hit a pine tree, before plunging into the gorge.

Jagdish Sharma, a farmer from Kunwarpur Mohandra village in Panna, said his father Badri Prasad Sharma (63) and mother Chandrakali Sharma (61) are among the deceased. “On Sunday evening, I saw in the news that a bus with pilgrims from my district fell into a gorge. As my parents and members of my sister’s family were also on a tour, we started trying to find out more. I tried to make calls to everyone whom I thought could help. A few hours later, I got a call from the phone belonging to my sister’s mother-in-law, Shakuntala Pandey. An Uttarakhand Police officer informed us that the phone was found at the site of the accident,” he said.

Shakuntala Pandey and her husband Awadhesh Pandey are also among the deceased. The four relatives were on their first visit to Uttarakhand. “After a detailed list of the deceased was released by the government, all our fears came true. I lost both my parents. My sister lost her in-laws. Later, we got calls from several local officers who assured us of every possible help. We expect to get the bodies by around 8 pm,” added Sharma.

When Rajendra Singh Rajput learnt of a bus falling into a gorge on its way to Yamunotri, he instinctively called his father Janak Singh, but the call when unanswered. About 30 minutes later the call was answered by another passenger who identified himself as Uday Singh and informed Rajput that the bus ferrying his parents had fallen into a gorge.

“My 60-year-old father, my mother and an aunt had left with at least seven others from the village. But only one person from the village survived,” said Rajput on Monday as he waited to receive the bodies of his mother and aunt at their village in Panna’s Semariya tehsil. Hours ago, it had been a proud moment for the villagers when they bid farewell to the 10 people who headed out for the pilgrimage.

“Two years ago some people from our village had completed the darshan and since then my parents also wanted to go. But the past two years were spent in consequent lockdowns and it was only this year that they left. We clicked pictures and made videos before their departure, little did we know that we were preparing for their final journey,” said Rajput, while trying to control his sobs.

Another group of six from the neighbouring house of Ramakant Diwedi were also traveling in the fateful bus. The six deceased include his father Harinarayan Diwedi (60), mother Hira Bai along with two of his uncles, an aunt and a distant relative. The only person who had left for the Char Dham yatra from Budhsingh Sata village and has survived is Panchi Vishwakarma who had chosen to sit in the second bus.

According to Ramakant, it was Vishwakarma who had called up the villagers back home and informed them that the bus ahead, carrying about 28 villagers, had fallen in the gorge. “What can I say, we are just waiting for the bodies to arrive,” said Ramakant Diwedi. Much like Rajput, Diwedi was also waiting for the bodies that were being flown in from Uttarakhand to arrive at their village. The family was asked to send photos of their relatives using which the bodies were identified.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state BJP president V D Sharma met the injured in Uttarakhand.

Among the injured are Uday Singh (62), a teacher at a government primary school in Panna, and his 60-year-old wife. While Singh has suffered three fractures in his leg and one in his ribs, his wife has fractures in her nose and an arm. Both have been admitted to Max Hospital in Dehradun.

Talking to The Indian Express, their son Krishna Pratap Singh said the couple, along with 56 others from Panna, registered for the religious tour around 20 days ago and took a sleeper bus from Panna to Haridwar via Chitrakoot and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. As larger buses cannot traverse the mountain roads leading to Uttarkashi, the 58 pilgrims booked two smaller buses. The bus that fell in the gorge had 28 passengers, along with two staff members, while the other bus had the remaining 30 passengers.