Uttarakhand: Four minors among eight drowned in separate incidents

While three minors and an adult drowned in the Ganga river near Shyampur village around 10 am, four others lost their lives after their car fell into a gorge while plying from Berinag to Almora

Eight people, including four minors, drowned in two separate accidents in Uttarakhand on Sunday.

In the first incident, three minors and an adult drowned in the Ganga river near Shyampur village, around 10 km from Haridwar, around 10 am. Till reports last came in, divers deployed by the police had recovered three of the bodies.

Police said the four — Parmod (20), Ajay Singh Chauhan (10), Vijay Singh Chauhan (8) and Ajay Rawat (13) — drowned after they went swimming in the river.

According to sources, the news of Ajay Rawat’s death hit his mother, 29-year-old Satesvari Devi, so hard that she tried to commit suicide by consuming poison. She was hospitalised in a serious condition.

Ajay Singh Chauhan and Vijay were siblings.

“Police jumped into action as soon as villagers informed them about the incident. A team of divers rushed to the spot and located the bodies. Efforts are on to recover the fourth body,” said Shyampur SHO Mahesh Purval.

In the second incident, a car overturned and fell into a deep gorge while plying from Berinag to Almora on Sunday. While three of its five occupants died on the spot, the fourth — a 10-year-old girl — succumbed at the nearest hospital.

The identities of the victims were not immediately known.

Four people were killed in Pauri district after a bus fell into a gorge on Saturday. Subsequently, governor KK Paul on Sunday asked transport department officials to conduct fitness tests on all commercial vehicles across the state, and directed that strict action be taken against drivers found to be driving under the influence of alcohol.