As many as 11 students of a computer coaching institute died on Thursday after the minibus they were travelling in fell into a deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district. Seven students were wounded in the incident, PTI reported.

A police officer said the minibus, carrying students from a coaching class in Poonch, fell into the gorge near Peer Ki Gali on the Mughal Road, which connects Bafliaz in Poonch to Shopian. The students were heading towards Dhobijan for a picnic, Greater Kashmir reported.

The injured students have been taken to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar after being treated at a local facility in Shopian, the police officer added. Their condition is critical.

“Since accident occurred on Shopian side, FIR has been registered there and it is being investigated by the Shopian administration,” Poonch Deputy Commissioner Rahul Yadav told the Hindustan Times. “We have not received their dead bodies as yet nor have they been identified as yet. Reports say that 11 of them died in the tragic accident.”

“Most probably it was a case of speeding because the ill-fated vehicle had first crashed into a road divider before plunging into the gorge,” Yadav added.

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik expressed grief over the incident and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased, PTI reported. An official spokesperson for Malik said the governor has expressed his condolences and “prayed for peace to the departed souls”.

The governor also directed the Srinagar administration to provide best possible treatment to the wounded and wished them a speedy recovery.

There have been several bus accidents in the country of late. On June 25, at least six people were killed and 43 injured when a bus skidded off the road and fell into a gorge at Anuraj Ghati in Garhwa district of Jharkhand. On June 21, at least 44 people died and 34 injured after a bus fell into a deep gorge in Banjar area of Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district.