Ten Injured After Bus Crash In Udhampur Floods, Highway Blocked, Rescue Operations Underway Now

Udhampur, India— Rain hit hard and fast on Monday morning and a passenger bus went off the road. At least ten people were hurt when the vehicle skidded on a waterlogged stretch of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway. Water was already rising in low-lying areas by the time police arrived.

The crash happened just after 8 a.m. near Tikri. The bus was carrying more than two dozen passengers from Jammu toward Srinagar. Witnesses said the driver lost control as a sheet of water crossed the highway. The bus tilted, hit the divider, then slammed into the side drain.

Local administration officials said the injured were pulled out by residents before rescue teams arrived. Three are in serious condition. They were taken to the District Hospital in Udhampur. The rest were treated for cuts and fractures. No deaths were reported.

Flash flooding followed within an hour. Nullahs overflowed and water entered homes in Majalta and Ramnagar blocks. Several link roads disappeared under two to three feet of water. A police post reported a small landslide that blocked one lane for traffic heading north.

"We received a distress call about the bus and waterlogging at almost the same time," a senior official from the district administration said. "Our first priority was to evacuate passengers and clear the highway. Machines are on the ground."

The highway is the lifeline. Trucks were stranded for kilometers. The National Highways Authority of India stopped traffic movement at Udhampur and Chenani as a precaution. Drivers were told to wait until the water receded and debris was cleared.

Residents said this stretch floods every monsoon but this was quicker. One shopkeeper in Tikri said water reached his store in ten minutes. He moved his goods with help from neighbors. Power was cut in parts of the town to avoid short circuits.

By late afternoon, water started to drop in the town center but villages remained cut off. The administration said assessment teams were sent to check crop and property damage. Rainfall data from the local observatory showed over 90 mm in six hours.

Traffic resumed in one lane by evening with police supervision. The administration has warned of more rain in the next 24 hours.