PM Narendra Modi announces compensation for victims of J&K bus accident

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the Amarnath pilgrims killed in a bus accident in in Jammu and Kashmir and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured.

"PM announced ex gratia of Rs. 2 lakhs for next of kin of those killed & Rs. 50,000 for those seriously injured, in the bus accident in J&K (sic)," the Prime Minister's Office tweeted.

Sixteen Amarnath pilgrims were killed and around 27 injured, 19 of them critically, when their bus skidded off the Jammu-Srinagar national highway and fell into a deep nullah in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir today, officials said.

Earlier, Modi expressed pain at the loss of lives.