India, Aug. 21 -- A bus carrying pilgrims to the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi skidded off a bridge on the Jammu-Pathankot highway in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district on Thursday, leaving one person dead and 39 others injured, officials said.

The accident took place at Jatwal, when the bus carrying pilgrims to Katra from Uttar Pradesh, suffered a tyre burst and skidded off the highway near a small bridge, they said.

The deceased was identified as 45-year-old Iqbal Singh of Amroha, they added.

A rescue operation was launched and the injured were shifted to the hospital in Samba. Seven of them were later admitted to AIIMS, Vijaypur.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah expressed condolences and assured assistance to the injured.

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