Amarnath Yatra Tragedy: Tyre Blast Suspected Reason For Bus Plunging Into Banihal’s Gorge
The bus carrying Amarnath Pilgrims skidded and turned turtle rolling down into the gorge (about 100ft.) at Jammu Kashmir’s Nachlana belt of Ramban. About 17 have reportedly died, 16 pilgrims identified and 30 injured yesterday afternoon. The tragedy is suspected to have happened because of a tyre blast leading the bus to fall into a running nullah.
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Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ramban, Mohan Lal said that the rescue operation is underway as the bus skidded in Jammu-Srinagar National Highway close to Banihal, “16 people are now confirmed dead, 19 with serious injuries and eight others with minor injuries,” Jammu and Kashmir police said in a statement on Sunday.
The injured have been shifted to the local hospital. An air force chopper is being sent to airlift the seriously injured for further treatment, police said. While on social sites PM Modi also expressed his condolences for the bereaved. 
Tens of thousands of Hindus from all over India travel to Kashmir every year to visit a phallus-shaped ice formation in the Amarnath caves that is worshipped as a symbol of Shiva, the god of destruction.
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