JAMMU: Thirty-eight people died and 17 were injured after a passenger bus on its way to Jammu veered off the road and rolled 250 metres down the hill in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday.

A police officer at the Doda control room said the passenger bus was on its way from Kishtwar to Jammu, a distance of 200km that would ordinarily have been covered in five hours.

The bus veered off the road and fell 250 meters near Trungal in Doda district’s Assar area. “At least 38 passengers have died so far,” said Doda senior superintendent of police Abdul Qayoom, who is supervising the rescue operations.

Local residents were among the first responders Qayoom said 17 people were pulled out alive out of the bus and rushed to hospital. Some of them were in a serious condition.

“We are in the middle of rescue operations,” he said.

There were 55 passengers in the bus.

In a video clip of the scene after the accident, men and women were seen lying motionless on the street. Locals said they were dead.

Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha condoled the deaths, saying he was “extremely pained by the loss of lives in the bus accident. “My heartfelt condolences to bereaved families & wishing for a speedy recovery of those injured in the accident. Directed Div Com & Dist Admin to provide all necessary assistance to affected persons,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.