According to Yogesh Prajapati, the bus left Srinagar in the afternoon but developed a flat tyre five kilometres on
Yogesh Prajapati, who was part of the Amarnath entourage that was attacked on Monday night, said the first bullets hit the windshield of the bus and cracked it. Sitting right next to the driver, Saleem, in the front cabin, Prajapati said this was followed by a barrage of bullets from the front and its right side.
According to him, Saleem ducked to evade the bullets but continued driving. This turned out to be fatal for tour organizer Harsh Desai, who was hit by three bullets and the conductor Mukesh. "Saleem was the only lucky one on the right side of the bus," Prajapati said. "Most others sitting on his side either died or were injured."
According to him, the bus left Srinagar in the afternoon but developed a flat tyre five kilometres on. "We called a mechanic, who was about to fit the repaired tyre, when he realized there was another puncture. This delayed the bus by nearly three hours and it resumed its journey at around 6.50 pm," he said.
In the meanwhile, the military convoy they were with left without them. "As going back would have been equally dangerous, we decided to proceed towards our destination. At nearly 8.30pm, the firing started. Harshbhai told Saleem to just keep going. Harshbhai caught three bullets, while Mukesh also got hit. After nearly two kilometres, we ran into a military personnel," Prajapati said.
Yogesh says an Army jeep had started following the bus at some point and the terrorists might have aimed at the jeep but ended up hitting the bus.
GROUP PERSONALITY
- The front cabin of the bus was occupied by Saleem, the primary driver; Suresh, the second driver; bus owner Jawahar Desai and his son Harsh; conductor Mukesh and Prajapati. There were 61 people in the bus altogether, including the crew.
- Two of the injured, Pushpaben Gosavi of Dahanu and Laliben Patel of Valsad, are still undergoing treatment at the Army hospital in Srinagar, while the others have been brought back. A cook, Suresh bhai, has stayed back to look after the two in Srinagar.
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 "Yogesh Prajapati")
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