Chandigarh, Aug 17: Over forty five pilgrims returning from the Hindu shrine of Vaishno Devi were rescued once the bus they were travel in fell into an irrigation canal close to Punjab’s Madhopur city, police said on Monday.
The injured passengers, as well as the bus driver, were hurried to a civil hospital in Pathankot city, 250 km from here.
None of the passengers, mostly from Delhi and Haryana’s Gurgaon, sustained serious injuries. The passengers were coming back from the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine within the close Jammu and Kashmir state once pilgrimage.
The accident accurred close to the Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir border. The spot is about 15 km from Pathankot.
Police officers aforesaid the bus fell into the higher Bari Doab canal late Sunday. The water level was lowered by Punjab irrigation department to assist in rescue operations.
“We are trying into the reasons on why the bus fell into the canal. the driver claimed that the brakes of the vehicle failed,” a Punjab Police official said.
Passengers claimed that the bus was carried within the canal water current for a few distance. However, the passengers were saved because of immediate rescue operations.
