Four people were killed and 28 injured on Saturday when a bus turned turtle in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir as the driver lost control of the vehicle, news agency PTI reported officials as saying.


The incident took place on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in the Barsoo area of the south Kashmir district, they said.


The four passengers who died were all residents of Bihar. 28 passengers were injured and 23 of them have been taken to various hospitals here for treatment, PTI reported officials as saying.






Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha expressed grief over the incident and directed the district administration to provide all necessary assistance to the affected people.


"I am deeply anguished by the unfortunate bus accident in Awantipora today, in which precious lives have been lost and many others have been injured. I have issued instruction to the district administration to provide all necessary assistance to the affected persons," Sinha wrote on Twitter.


He said the district administration is in touch with the bereaved families in Bihar to provide all possible help.


"My heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and I wish a speedy recovery to those injured," the LG added.






The update on the accident comes after an encounter broke out between militants and security forces in the Pulwama district earlier in the day.


PTI reported a police official as saying that security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the Mitrigam area of Pulwama in south Kashmir after receiving specific inputs about the presence of militants there.


The search operation turned into an encounter after the militants fired upon the forces, who retaliated, the official said, as per PTI.


The exchange of firing was on, but, so far, there were no reports of any casualty on either side, he said.


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