26 Badrinath pilgrims die as bus falls into gorge in Uttarakhand

At least 26 persons including 21 died on the spot and more than 16 were injured when a bus ferrying pilgrims from Char Dham Yatra plunged into a deep gorge about 2 km from Byasi in Tehri district here.

Officials said that there were a total of 43 persons on-board the ill-fated bus and that the death toll may increase. Of the six seriously injured, four were admitted to Jolly Grant hospital and two were referred to Dehradun; those referred to Dehradun succumbed to their injuries in the hospital. The condition of the four, who have been admitted to Jolly Grant, is very critical and they may succumb to their injuries so death toll may increase late night.

The rescue and relief operations at the site are on and the police have so far saved 18 persons. A total of 21 bodies were fished out of the Ganga and cops are waiting for their post-mortem reports to ascertain the actual cause of death. All pilgrims including two children were from Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh. They were en route to Rishikesh after completing 10-day long Char Dham Yatra on Tuesday.

The mishap took place on Tuesday afternoon, around 12:55 pm. The bus, which was returning from the 10-day pilgrimage of Char Dham shrines in the Garhwal region, fell into a gorge more than 50 metres deep at Kaudiyala near Byasi. According to police, the driver of the ill-fated bus lost control of the vehicle while overtaking a truck causing the bus to fall off the road. The 43 passengers included 20 female, 21 male pilgrims and 4 bus staff. The local police were informed about the incident and reached the site along with senior officials of the Tehri District Administration.

Sushil Gairola, bus driver working for Tehri Garhwal Motor Owners Union (TGMOU), sustained minor injuries in the accident and is presently in police custody. During questioning Gairola told police that the mishap took place when a loaded truck hit the ill-fated bus from the rear. “We are, however, yet to verify this as we have not found any traces of a truck in the place. A magisterial inquiry will be ordered in the case soon,” Tehri DM Dr RK Sinha disclosed while talking to The Pioneer over phone.

The seriousness of the accident can be gauged by the fact that the DM further said that he had never seen nor heard of such an accident in Uttarakhand since he joined in 2005.

Meanwhile rescue and relief operations involving local residents, administration and water police are on. While a total of 24 bodies have been recovered from the site so far, the toll is expected to increase.

The police who are investigating the case said that a complaint of accidental death has been registered in connection with the case. “Our first priority is to save the accident victims. Though the toll is expected to rise, we are also hopeful some more persons would have evaded the mishap with injuries,” a senior cop said.

Mariela Castro Daughter of Cuban leader Raul Castro to visit U.S.

HAVANA, May 16 - Cuban President Raul Castro’s daughter is scheduled to visit California next week to speak at a conference of experts on Latin America during a rare U.S. trip by a member of Cuba’s ruling family.

Sexologist Mariela Castro, 50, will discuss Cuba’s policies on sexual issues on May 24 at a Latin American Studies Association (LASA) conference in San Francisco, an association spokesman said on Wednesday.

Mariela Castro heads the communist island nation’s National Center for Sex Education and is an outspoken advocate for gay rights.

Her father Raul Castro, 80, took over as president four years ago from his ailing older brother Fidel Castro, who ruled the island for 49 years after taking power in a 1959 revolution.

A U.S. State Department spokesman in Washington refused to confirm during a briefing whether Mariela Castro had been granted a visa to visit the country, which has been Cuba’s ideological foe for more than half a century.

The spokesman for LASA, an international group based at the University of Pittsburgh for people who study Latin America, said she was registered to attend the conference, scheduled for the speech and likely has a visa.

In Washington, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, an anti-Castro Cuban exile, said in a statement he was _Sdisappointed by the decision to give Mariela Castro a visa and questioned whether the government had the authority to do so.

“_SMs. Castro is a vociferous advocate of the (Castro) regime and opponent of democracy, who has defended the regime’s brutal repression of democracy activists,” the New Jersey Democrat said.

“Neither the United States Government nor the Latin American Studies Association should be in the business of providing a totalitarian regime, like the one in Cuba, with a platform from which to espouse its twisted rhetoric,” Menendez added.

Menendez said a U.S. presidential proclamation prohibited travel visas for members of Cuba’s government or its Communist Party. A State Department spokesman told Reuters in an email the same proclamation _Sprovided authority for granting exceptions.

Neither Mariela Castro nor anyone with knowledge of her visa situation could be reached for comment.

Her uncle Fidel Castro, 85, has been to the United States several times. It is not known that either she or her father have visited the United States, located just 90 miles (145 km) across the Florida Straits from Cuba.

U.S.-Cuba relations have warmed slightly since President Barack Obama took office. But progress has come almost to a halt since U.S. contractor Alan Gross was arrested in Havana in December 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for setting up Internet networks under a semi-covert U.S. program aimed at toppling the Cuban government.