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Police Deny News Of Bus Carrying Schoolchildren Falling Into Gorge In Kashmir (UPDATED)

"It has returned safely."
Representative image.
Amit Gupta / Reuters
Representative image.

Editor's note: The additional Superintendent of Police (SP) in Poonch, Masroor Mir has clarified that no such incident took place and it was a false alarm.

"It (the school bus) has not met with any accident. In fact, it has returned safely," TOIquoted the officer saying.

A school bus carrying over 40 students in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district fell into a gorge on Thursday afternoon, reported news agency ANI.

J&K: Bus carrying students of a private school from Rajouri's Manjakote falls into a gorge near Poonch's Mughal Road. Many feared dead pic.twitter.com/immZp5qAHx

— ANI (@ANI_news) May 25, 2017

The accident took place when the driver of the Gareeb Nawaz Academy school-bus, with 45 persons on board lost control of the vehicle, IANS reported.

"Forty children are feared dead in this tragic accident. Police and army teams have reached the spot and a massive rescue operation is on," the news agency quoted a senior police official saying.

"Chances of survival of the occupants are bleak as the vehicle fell 150 feet into a deep gorge," the official said.

The students were on their way to a picnic from Manjakote to Peer Ki Gali on the Mughal Road when the accident occurred at Mansar.

This is a developing story. More details are awaited.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.