Terrorists kept firing at the bus even after it fell into the gorge, Neelam Gupta, who was one of the 41 injured in the attack in Reasi district, said, recalling the June 9 incident. Nine people were killed in the attack on the vehicle that was carrying pilgrims from the Shiv Khori temple to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra. The 53-seater bus veered off the road due to indiscriminate firing by the terrorists and fell into the gorge near Teryath village in the Poni. The pilgrims were from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.

Neelam was in the bus along with her husband Devi Prasad Gupta, son Prince, daughter Palak, sister Bittan, relative Dinesh Gupta and friend Deepak Kumar Rai, and they all returned home in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district on Thursday night after undergoing treatment in Jammu. Besides them, Rajesh Gupta, the eighth from the district who was injured in the attack, is still admitted at the Jammu hospital and his condition is critical. He is Neelam Gupta’s brother. The terrorists were targeting the bus’ driver and the vehicle overturned and fell into the gorge, said Devi Prasad Gupta, a resident of Bhikharipur village.

“We left for Jammu on June 4 by train. Our plan included visiting the Maa Vaishno Devi shrine on June 9, the day our bus was attacked,” he said.

Neelam Gupta said even after the bus fell into the gorge, the terrorists kept firing. It seemed that their target was to kill everybody on the bus, she said.

The passengers were scared and lay low to avoid being hit by bullets, she said and added that “after sometime, when the firing stopped and we were sure the terrorists left, those injured were slowly taken out from the bus by locals”.

In some time, security personnel also arrived at the spot and those hurt were taken to hospital in ambulances, Neelam Gupta, who suffered a fracture in her left leg, recalled. Devi Prasad Gupta said he still has pain in his left ribs and hands.

The administrative and police teams of Gonda district reached Jammu to assist us and we are thankful to them,” he said.

Courtesy: The Tribune India: 15th June , 2024