At least ten people lost their lives after the car they were travelling in plunged into a 300-feet deep gorge in the Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir on March 29. According to reports, the cab was headed to Jammu from Srinagar when it met with the deadly accident on the Jammu-Srinagar highway at around 1:15 am. A team of J&K Police, Indian Army, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and civil Quick Response Team, reached the spot and helped in the evacuation of the deceased. President Droupadi Murmu, among others, expressed grief over the tragic accident. “The news of many people getting killed after a vehicle fell into a ditch in Ramban area on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is very sad. I offer my condolences to the bereaved families,” the President wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.

The Chenab Valley, where the accident happened, is a picturesque valley with lush green mountains and the serpentine Chenab River flowing through them. But, besides the beauty, the valley is also known for its treacherous terrain. The sharp bends and turns on the National Highway-44 in Ramban are difficult to negotiate for drivers, especially at night and during inclement weather. This makes the Chenab Valley one of the most accident-prone areas in Jammu and Kashmir.


According to Jammu & Kashmir Traffic Department data, a total of 22,124 died in 21,834 road accidents between 2010 and 2022 across the six districts of Chenab and Pir Panjal region alone. These include Rajori, Doda, Poonch, Ramban, Udhampur, and Reasi. Data also reveals that road accidents have claimed more lives than natural disasters in the area during the same period. In the six districts, a total of 552 people died due to natural disasters from 2010 to 2022. When it comes to the whole Union Territory, road accidents have killed 4,287 people in J&K from 2018 to 2022, according to a report released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

The ‘Road Accidents in India 2021’ report, released by the MoRTH, shows that among all UTs of India, NCT of Delhi recorded the highest number of fatalities due to road accidents during the 2017-2021 period, though the number dropped from 1,584 in 2017 to 1,239 in 2021. The National Capital was followed by Jammu & Kashmir which had second highest number of fatalities.

In 2017, J&K witnessed 926 road accidents deaths, which increased to 984 in the following year. In 2019, the death toll due to road accidents stood at 996 in J&K. The number then dropped slightly to 728 in 2020. The next year, J&K recorded a total of 774 deaths due to fatal road accidents.

In the ‘Road Accidents in India 2022’ report, J&K beat Delhi by recording the highest number of road accidents (6,092) in the year 2022 among all UTs. Delhi, meanwhile, witnessed a total number of 5,652 road accidents in 2022.

The government has been stepping up efforts to curb mishaps, especially in accident-prone areas by installing crash barriers and CCTVs and widening narrow roads. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in a reply to a question in the Lok Sabha last year in December, said that the road safety audit is conducted periodically which helped authorities identify total four black spots on the Nashri-Ramban-Banihal-Quazikund section of NH-44, which stretches across 74.50 km and passes through the Pir Panjal and Chenab Valley region. The ministry added that two of the identified black spots have already been rectified by four-laning of the stretch and construction of viaduct. Data released by the ministry reveled that the Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal region witnessed a total of 166 accidents in 2021 claiming 55 lives. The next year, 118 accidents took place in the region killing 42 people. In 2023, 72 road accidents had happened till November that caused 21 deaths.