The Visnudutas said, “One who chants the holy name of the Lord is immediately freed from the reactions of unlimited sins, even if he chants jokingly or for musical entertainment. This is accepted in the scriptures and by all learned scholars.
“If one chants the holy name of Lord Krsna and then dies in an accident or is killed by a deadly animal, from disease, or by a weapon, one is immediately freed from having to take birth again. As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, the holy name of Krsna burns to ashes all of one’s karmic reactions.”
Srila Prabhupada in “Coming Back”
NEW DELHI, June 10. /ITAR-TASS/. Two Russians pilgrims died on the spot five of them injured in a bus crash in northern India and are in heavy condition in hospital, while other five were injured not so severely, according to a local police official.
All the injured people were taken to hospitals in the city of Dehradun, the state of Uttarakhand. Five Russians devotees and the bus driver were in heavy condition. Other five received slighter injuries, he said.
Two Russians died in a bus crash in northern India, and one, supposedly a Russian citizen, was missing, the head of the Rostourism federal agency’s press service Irina Shchegolkova told ITAR-TASS.
“According to the preliminary information we have received from our embassy in India, two Russians died and one is missing, supposedly also a citizen of Russia. Other 12 people were injured. They were taken to a hospital. They are being identified,” she said.
The Russian citizen missing after the bus crash in northern India was not found, and the search was suspended until Wednesday, June 11, a local police official said on Tuesday.
The search was suspended because of a strong stream. The military would join the search in the morning on June 11, the official added.
None of Russian tour operators has confirmed that their tourists were in the bus, the press secretary of the Russian Union of Tour Operators Irina Tyurina told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday.
The union immediately contacted tour companies that send tourists to India, and none of them confirmed tourists from Russia were in the bus, she said, noting that the bus accident occurred at the foothills of the Himalayas, where two of seven holy cities of Hinduism are located. “Pilgrims actively travel to the sites independently,” she said.
Tour operators said they sometimes sent tourists to the sites on individual tours. The group which was in the bus was large. Most likely, the people were independent pilgrims, the press secretary supposed.
The executive director of the Russian Association of Tour Operators Maya Lomidze told ITAR-TASS that supposedly the victims were pilgrims. “We cannot confirm that Russian tourists were in the bus. We have no such information. We know that there were 42 passenger seats in the bus, but there were more passengers in it,” Lomidze said.
“Supposedly pilgrims, but not organized tourists, were in the bus. There is information that almost all died,” she said.
The electronic version of the India Today journal reported on Tuesday that a bus carrying Russian tourists fell into the Bhagirathi River in northern India. The Russian Embassy in India did not confirm the information. “We are checking the information,” a source in the consulate told ITAR-TASS.
The Rostourism federal agency did not confirm the information either. “We know there is such information, but cannot confirm anything so far, as there is no official report,” the head of the press service of the agency Irina Shhegolkova told ITAR-TASS earlier. “Rostourism now is inquiring about all the details of the accident and will inform about the situation.”
An Indian police official told an ITAR-TASS correspondent that two Russians died and eleven were injured in the bus crash and one was missing. The injured people were airlifted by a helicopter to a nearest hospital.
On Thursday morning, ISKCON-guru Gopal Krishna Goswami sent three Russian and an Indian devotee to visit the injured and take care of their requirements.
Five devotees (all ladies) are admitted at AIIMS, which is a reputed government run hospital close to ISKCON’s Sri Radha Parthasarathi temple. All five of them have suffered multiple injuries and fractures, but are out of danger. AIIMS also has a team of devotee doctors and they have made sure that the injured devotees are well taken care of.