JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has set up a three-member panel to probe the circumstances leading to the bus accident in Doda district even as one more passenger succumbed to injuries, taking the death toll in the incident to 39, officials said Thursday.

The bus skidded off the road and rolled down into a 300-foot gorge in Doda district on Wednesday. Twenty injured passengers were admitted to a hospital where one of them succumbed to injuries late Wednesday night.

Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar said a committee has been constituted to inquire into the circumstances leading to the accident near Assar in Doda district.

The committee shall inquire into the incident and furnish a detailed inquiry report to his office within a week, the officer said.

The members of the committee are Dr Ravi Kumar Bharti, additional district magistrate (ADM), Doda, superintending engineer and assistant road transport officer.

Locals have blamed frequent accidents in the area on bad conditions of roads in the district coupled with rash driving and overloading of vehicles.

Similar accidents in the vicinity

On July 1, 2019, 35 people were killed and 17 injured when an overloaded mini-bus veered off the road and fell into a gorge in Kishtwar's Sangwari area
On September 14, 2018, 17 passengers were killed and 16 injured when a mini-bus skidded off the road and plunged into a gorge in the Dandaran area of Kishtwar
On May 24 this year, seven people were killed and three injured after a cruiser vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a gorge at the Dangduru dam site in the Dachan area of Kishwar
Eight people were killed and three seriously injured when their car skidded off the road and plunged into a 300-foot gorge in Kishtwar on August 30
On June 27, five people were killed and 12 injured when their vehicle fell into a gorge on the Bhadarwah-Pathankot road in Doda
Three people were killed in road accidents in Doda district on October 8 and October 20.