Bihar: Seven pilgrims feared drowned after van falls into dam; 19 injured

The van, carrying 26 pilgrims from different villages in the Karakat area, were going to the Gupteshwar Mahadev cave temple on Kaimur hills for Mahashivratri scheduled on Saturday

In a tragic incident, seven persons were feared drowned while 19 persons including eight women, got injured after their vehicle plunged into the Durgawati Reservoir Project (DRP) dam located in Bihar’s Rohtas district on Friday morning.

When the van was climbing the Gaighat hill, the brakes failed after which it fell into the dam. (HT image)

The van, carrying 26 pilgrims from different villages in the Karakat area, were going to the Gupteshwar Mahadev cave temple on Kaimur hills for Mahashivratri scheduled on Saturday, police said.

At about 5am, when the van was climbing the Gaighat hill, the brakes failed after which the vehicle fell into the dam waters in a 70 feet deep ditch.

Three bodies were fished out and search was underway for the remaining four but the local divers were unable to reach the vehicle.

The 19 injured pilgrims were admitted to Sadar hospital at Sasaram.

Executive engineer of the dam, Afzal Alam said there was about 40 feet deep water in the dam at the accident site.

District magistrate (DM) Dharmendra Kumar said the state disaster response force (SDRF) team from adjacent Bhojpur district were called to carry out the rescue operations.

The dead bodies are yet to be identified and were sent to Sasaraam for autopsy.

The injured pilgrims belonged to Rediya, Muhwari, Telari, lakhnaul, Gera, Turki, Sakalabazar and other villages, police said.