Truck carrying rescue equipment to Uttarkashi tunnel falls into gorge, driver killed

The truck carrying some pipes and drilling machine was travelling from Dehradun to the tunnel site in Uttarkashi

A truck carrying equipment for rescue operations to evacuate 41 workers trapped in the Uttarkashi tunnel in Ufell into a 100-metre-deep gorge in the Narendranagar area of Tehri district in Uttarakhand on Monday afternoon. The driver died in the accident, said police.

police reached the spot and with some difficulty pulled the driver from the gorge and rushed him to the hospital for treatment. But, he died during the treatment. (Representative Image)

Gopal Dutt Bhatt, Narendranagar police station in-charge, said a truck fell into a 100-metre gorge in the Narendranagar area here.

“The driver Gaurav Kumar, 35, was seriously injured in the accident that happened around 4.30pm. On receiving information about the incident, police reached the spot and with some difficulty pulled the driver from the gorge and rushed him to the hospital for treatment. But there he died during the treatment”, Bhatt said

Bhatt said that based on the information collected from the site, the truck carrying some pipes and drilling machine was travelling from Dehradun to the tunnel site in Uttarkashi.

“From the information we gathered at the accident spot, the equipment was being sent by some private vendor who had been engaged by Railway Vikas Nigam Ltd to send the equipment from Dehradun to Uttarkashi tunnel. More details are being collected”, he said.

The chief minister said, “All the workers trapped inside the tunnel are safe and every effort is being made to get them out soon.”