Uttarakhand bus accident: Shivraj Chouhan reaches Dehradun to take stock of relief operation

The accident claimed the lives of 25 pilgrims travelling in the bus after it fell into a gorge near Damta in Uttarkashi district on Sunday.

Chouhan, after his arrival in the hill state, held a meeting with the officials and took stock of the situation.

Speaking to ANI after the meeting, Chouhan said that he would visit the hospital to meet the injured ones in the accident.

"I am with the officials of Uttarakhand in the Disaster Control room. I have taken stock of the situation from the place of the accident. The DM, SP, DIG, SDRF and NDRF teams are present at the site. Apart from two mortal remains, the rest of them have been located. 19 of them have been lifted to the road. The operation to bring five more bodies is underway, which hopefully would be done in the night," he said.

"Search operation for the two people is underway. Four injured have been admitted to the hospital. I will visit the hospital to meet them," the Chief Minister added.

Giving details of the meeting with the officials in Dehradun, Chouhan said that discussions were held regarding conducting the postmortem of the deceased ones.

"Discussions were held on doing the postmortem of the dead ones. It has been decided that they would be brought to Dehradun for the postmortem. We are contacting the relatives. We will make arrangements to transport them according to the wishes of the relatives. We are working on both road and air mode of transport," he said.

Earlier on Sunday, Chouhan announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each for the injured in the bus accident of pilgrims.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the accident in Uttarakhand. (ANI)