A bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir skidded off a highway bridge into a Himalayan gorge Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55, police said.
The bus was on the way to Katra town from the northern state of Punjab’s Amritsar city when it fell into the gorge near Jammu city, police said.
Local police officer Chandan Kohli told reporters that the bus was overloaded. He said the dead were from India’s eastern Bihar state.
Residents and authorities rushed to the accident and launched a rescue operation. The injured have been hospitalized.
The shrine of Vaishno Devi in Katra is highly revered by Hindus and hundreds of thousands visit it every year.
India has some of the highest road death rates in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people killed and injured annually. Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and aging vehicles.
2 Nigerian nationals arrested for swindling women
Meanwhile, two Nigerian nationals were arrested in India for allegedly swindling at least 20 women of crores of rupees after befriending them on Instagram.
A team of the Manesar Cyber Police Station in Gurugram arrested the accused identified as Ebuka Felix and Chukwuka Ewere, from their residence in Delhi’s Nilothi on Monday, May 29, 2023.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that five people were involved in their gang and all of them used to target women through Instagram.
The suspects were apprehended following a complaint from a woman who said she was cheated of Rs 1.80 crore by a man she met on Instagram last year.
According to police, the victim reported the matter on April 10 at Manesar Police Station.
In her complaint, the woman said the man had introduced himself as a British Airways pilot, residing in the UK.
“The accused talked to me regularly. One day last year he said he was sending a gift parcel for me which contained an iPhone, jewelry, and other items. Later, on December 6, a man called me saying a parcel had arrived in my name and I had to pay Rs 35,000 in tax to get it,” the woman said in her complaint.
The victim deposited the money in a bank account shared by the man, but was still being asked for more money by his so-called friend, who demanded it in the name of different fees such as ‘United national anti terrorist clearance’ or some penalty, police said. By the time she realized it was a fraud, she had paid Rs 1.80 crore to the man, police said.
A check book, 16 bank passbooks, 25 ATM cards, seven mobile phones with as many SIM cards, one laptop, one scooter, and Rs 10,000 cash found in their possession were seized by police.
Both were produced in a city court and were taken on a four-day police remand.
”The two are also the members of the same gang which was busted by police on May 11. We have taken them on police remand and are questioning them,” said Varun Dahiya, ACP, Crime.
Manesar Cyber Station SHO, Inspector Naresh Kumar, said the Nigerians revealed that three women are also involved in their gang.
“All three are from Mizoram. The women after committing the crime used to return to Mizoram. We have intensified their search,” he added.
(AP NEWS)
