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3 pilgrims on their way to Yamunotri shrines killed, 9 hurt as vehicle falls into gorge
The pilgrims from Maharashtra were on their way to Yamunotri shrines when the incident occurred, officials said.
Mussoorie: Three pilgrims including a driver from Maharashtra died while 10 others were seriously injured when the vehicle they were travelling in plunged into a deep gorge at Dabarkot between Orji and Sayana Chatti on the Yamunotri highway night on Thursday night, police said.
Three people, including the driver, died on the spot while the ten other pilgrims who were injured were rescued by police and a team from the state disaster response force and were referred to the government hospital at Dehradun and are undergoing treatment, SDRF officials said.
The SDRF team, after reaching the spot, found that a Bolero vehicle, carrying 13 people had fallen into a deep gorge. The bodies of the deceased were recovered and the injured were pulled out after a rescue operation spanning more than an hour amid pitch dark conditions, SDRF officials said.
The pilgrims from Maharashtra were on their way to Yamunotri shrines when the incident occurred, officials said.
The deceased have been identified as Purannath, son of Gopalnath resident of Andheri, Mumbai, Jayashree daughter of Anil aged 23 years, a resident of Tunsar District Bhandar Maharashtra and Ashok, son of Mahadev aged 40 years and a resident of Tunsar District Bhandar Maharashtra.
This is the second such accident in three days when a vehicle has fallen into a deep gorge on the way to Yamunotri and Gangotri shrine and the local residents attribute it to over-speeding as the roads have become better due to the all-weather road project that is going on in the Char Dham area in addition to the untrained drivers who have little or no knowledge of driving in the hills.
The lack of knowledge of the geographical terrain is also one of the reasons why accidents occur in the hills apart from the continuous travelling on the Char Dham route which causes fatigue among drivers that also prima facie seems to be the reason for such accidents, said Aparn Yaduvanshi Superintendent of Police (SP) Uttarkashi said.
