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Indian pilgrims perish in Katra plunge
JAMMU, India, June 19 - At least 36 people were killed in
India's Jammu and Kashmir state on Friday when a bus carrying pilgrims
returning from a holy Hindu shrine plunged into a gorge, police said.
They said another 17 people were injured, some of them seriously, when
the bus, coming from Katra, the base for a trek to the shrine of Vaishno
Devi, fell 150 feet (45 metres) near Nandani, 28 km (18 miles) from Jammu,
the province's winter capital.
The bus was negotiating a curve on a Himalayan highway that links the
town to Srinagar, the summer capital to the north.
Senior police and medical officials have rushed to the site of the
accident for relief and rescue operations, officials said.
Reuters
Pilgrims Die Returning from God's Icy PhallusNEW DELHI – At least 12 Hindu pilgrims returning from a symbol of Lord Shivas phallus in Kashmir were killed and more than 35 injured when their bus plunged into a deep gorge, United News of India said Monday.The news agency said the bus carrying 50 pilgrims from the Amarnath Cave skidded, flipped and dropped into a 500-foot gorge in the Himalayan region late Sunday. The bus was taking pilgrims to Jammu, winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir state. Some 60,000 pilgrims made the trek to the mountainous cave last week to worship an icy stalagmite devotees consider to represent the phallus and virile energy of Lord Shiva. August 15, 1995
©Reuters
Bus plunges into ravine, killing 32
NEW DELHI, May 2 - At least 32 people were killed on Friday when
a bus toppled into a ravine at a southern Indian hill resort, the Press Trust of India said.
The news agency said the bus carrying 57 tourists fell into a 100-metre-deep (109-yard) gorge at Kodaikanal, a popular resort town, while travelling to the temple-studded town of Palani in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Local government officials were supervising relief and rescue operations in the area, the news agency said. It gave no other details.
©Reuters
Sri Lankan pilgrims perish in bus plunge
COLOMBO, Sept. 3 (Reuter) - A bus carrying pilgrims to a southern Sri Lankan
town plunged off a cliff on Tuesday, killing 19 people and injuring over 40,
police said.
The bus, packed with about 70 passengers, skidded off the road and fell 90
metres (300 feet) on the scenic Ella-Wellawaya route in southeastern Uva
province, about 160 km (100 miles) from Colombo, they said.
The pilgrims were heading for the southern holy city of Kataragama where
thousands of Sri Lankans converge daily to pay homage to their gods.
©Reuters
15 perish in Rome bus plunge
ROME, July 6 (Reuter) - At least 15 people were killed, 21 were injured and two were missing after a bus carrying Italian tourists plunged into a river in the Dolomite mountains on Tuesday, rescue coordinators said.
Italy's civil protection service said most of the victims were elderly.
It said the accident happened when the bus collided with a car just south of the town of Brunico, in Italy's Alto Adige region near the border with Austria, and careered down an embankment into the fast-flowing river Gadera.
More than 150 firemen, police and other emergency workers were involved in the rescue operation. Helicopters were at the scene and fire brigade divers had been sent to scour the river for bodies, civil protection officials said.
The bus had been carrying 38 passengers from the town of Orvieto in central Italy. They were on their way to a holiday in the area organised by their local Catholic church.
The bus driver was among the injured, rescue workers said.
(c) Reuters Limited
Muslims perish en route to Biswa Ijtema
DHAKA, Jan 12 (Reuter) - A bus carrying people bound for an Islamic conference crashed off a highway bridge in heavy fog early on Wednesday, killing 30 and injuring 20 others, witnesses said.
Many of the passengers were Moslem devotees headed for an annual Islamic conference, the "Biswa Ijtema", due to begin on Saturday at Tongi, a suburb of the capital Dhaka.
The bus started its journey from Faridpur town in northern Bangladesh on Tuesday night, police told reporters.
Villagers at Boali, scene of the accident 60 km (40 miles) north of Dhaka, pulled 12 bodies from the crumpled vehicle before police arrived, one police officer said. Police and volunteers later dragged out the other bodies and sent the injured to a nearby hospital.
"Wednesday dawn was very foggy and... almost zero visibility," one officer said.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
33 feared dead after bus plunges off causeway
HYDERABAD, Nov 1 (Reuter) - A rain-swollen river in south India swept a bus packed with pilgrims off a causeway and 33 of them were feared drowned, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Half of the 66 people on board the bus had been rescued and 20 bodies retrieved from the river, P. Bhaskar Prasad, a senior official in Andhra Pradesh state, said.
Another 13 bodies were believed to be trapped inside the bus, he told reporters.
Domestic news agencies said earlier 40 people were feared killed in the accident, which occurred as the bus was taking pilgrims to Tirupati, one of the holiest Hindu temples in India.
The river was swollen by a cyclonic storm which lashed parts of India's southeastern coast on Sunday and Monday and killed 26 people in Madras. Prasad said continuing heavy rains hampered rescue operations.
He added that two young girls and a woman were killed when a mud wall lashed by the rain collapsed on top of them, but they were the only known fatalities in Andhra Pradesh.
As in Madras, life in Andhra Pradesh, home state of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, was severely disrupted by the storm, which uprooted trees, cut roads and forced cancellation of many rail services.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
Dozens die in Islamabad bus plunge
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A crowded bus plunged into a canal south of Islamabad, killing as many as 24 people, a newspaper
reported Sunday.
The driver had lost control of the bus after swerving to avoid an oncoming car, The News said. The accident happened late
Saturday about 60 miles south of the capital, on a road skirting the Jhelum river and canal.
Rescue workers said they saved 40 people, but were able to recover the bodies of only three victims. Strong currents in the
canal apparently swept away more than 20 others, police said.
Many aboard had been returning to work after spending several days at home celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of
Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.
Accidents are common on the congested roads by the river and canal. In 1993,a bus drove off the road at the same spot as
Saturday's accident, killing 38 people.
February 25, 1996
© The Associated Press
Sri Lankan pilgrims perish in bus plunge
COLOMBO, Sept 3 (Reuter) - A bus carrying pilgrims to a southern Sri Lankan town plunged off a cliff on Tuesday, killing 19
people and injuring over 40, police said.
The bus, packed with about 70 passengers, skidded off the road and fell 90 metres
(300 feet) on the scenic Ella-Wellawaya route in southeastern Uva province, about 160 km (100 miles) from Colombo, they
said. The pilgrims were heading for the southern holy city of Kataragama where thousands of Sri Lankans converge daily to
pay homage to their gods.
Bus plunges into ravine, killing 32
NEW DELHI, May 2 - At least 32 people were killed on Friday when a bus toppled into a ravine at a southern Indian hill resort, the Press Trust of India said.
The news agency said the bus carrying 57 tourists fell into a 100-metre-deep (109-yard) gorge at Kodaikanal, a popular resort town, while travelling to the temple-studded town of Palani in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Local government officials were supervising relief and rescue operations in the area, the news agency said. It gave no other details.
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