Four of family among five dead as SUV falls into gorge in JK’s Samba

JAMMU – Four members of a family were among five people killed on Saturday when their vehicle skidded off the road and plunged into a deep gorge in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

The SUV was on its way to Srinagar from Punjab and the accident took place at Jamoda near Mansar on the Samba-Udhampur road, the officials said.

The driver lost control of the SUV carrying six people, following which it rolled down into the gorge, the officials said, adding five of the occupants died on the spot while the driver was hospitalised with critical injuries.

Terming the accident as “unfortunate”, Deputy Commissioner (Samba) Anuradha Gupta said four of the deceased were family members of sarpanch Mushtaq Ahmad of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

“Police received information about the accident around 6.30 am and immediately launched a rescue operation. Mushtaq’s father Gulzar Ahmad, mother Zara Begum, brother Mohammad Iqbal and sister Masrat along with another person Mohammad Akbar died in the accident,” she said.

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha expressed grief over the loss of lives in the accident.

“Deeply saddened to learn about the loss of lives in a tragic road accident in Mansar, Samba. My deepest condolences to the bereaved families. Praying for the early recovery of the injured,” Sinha wrote on Twitter.

The Samba Deputy Commissioner said she had talked to the sarpanch who is on the way to receive the bodies, while efforts are on to establish contact with Akbar’s family.

She announced immediate relief of Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of each of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured from the Red Cross fund.