Reasi, Oct. 14 -- Three pilgrims lost their lives in a road accident near Katra on Tuesday, when an auto-rickshaw carrying the pilgrims collided head-on with a bus coming from the opposite direction.

The deceased were pilgrims who had visited the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine and were returning to Katra from the Serli Helipad. The collision was severe, resulting in the instant death of all three passengers in the auto-rickshaw, said SDPO Katra Bhisham Dubey.

Police and rescue teams rushed to the spot immediately after the incident. The bodies have been shifted to a nearby hospital for postmortem, and an investigation into the cause of the accident has been initiated.

Earlier, four men died in a road accident at Jammu-Katra Expressway i...