Srinagar/Jammu, March 26 (IANS) At least two persons were killed, and five others were injured on Thursday in separate road accidents in Jammu and Kashmir.

An assistant professor of Poonch degree college, identified as Dr Tabassum Naz, was killed and her husband critically injured in an accident in the Kallar area of Rajouri district.

The accident occurred when the car going to Poonch from Rajouri, went out of the driver’s control and veered off the road.

Locals rushed to the site and conducted a rescue operation, immediately shifting the injured to a nearby health facility. Prof. Tabassum Naz succumbed to her injuries during treatment, while her husband, Hameed, is in critical condition.

Police have reached the scene and launched an investigation to determine the exact cause of the accident.

In another accident at Rail Gund in Ganderbal district, one person belonging to Kargil district in Ladakh was killed, while four others were injured. The injured included two tourists from Maharashtra and two from the Ladakh union territory.

The accident occurred due to a head-on collision between two vehicles.

Earlier, in January, at least ten soldiers were killed, and 11 others were injured after an Army vehicle met with a devastating road accident in the hilly Doda district. The vehicle skidded off the road at the Khanni top along the Bhaderwah-Chamba interstate road and plunged into a deep gorge.

The hilly districts of Poonch, Rajouri, Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar are among the districts in Jammu and Kashmir where the maximum number of road mishaps occur because of the steep and curved roads.

Over-speeding, overloading, road rage and unsafe roads are the main reasons for road accidents in J&K. The traffic department has deployed special checking squads to check violations.

Regional transport officers (RTOs) have issued detailed instructions and publicised these in the media, detailing punishments for traffic rule violations. In case of accidents due to overspeeding and other incidents of rash and negligent driving, authorities cancel driving licences and registration certificates of vehicles and even arrest parents and seize vehicles in cases where minors are found driving.

–IANS

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