SILCHAR: Five of a family died after their vehicle skidded off the highway and rolled down into a 150-feet deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh’s Kamle district, police said on Tuesday. A 4-year-old girl was the only survivor in the deadly accident near Daporijo town in Kamle district.
Police said the accident took place at about 1:30am on Tuesday when the vehicle was presumably trying to catch up with an ambulance carrying another family member, a cancer patient being shifted from Guwahati to a hospital in Arunachal Pradesh’s Naharlagun.
“The family members had stopped somewhere near Daporijo town for tea…. Once they were back on the road, the Bolero driver raced to catch up with the ambulance which had continued without a break,” a police officer said. The accident took place minutes later.
“After receiving the information, we reached the spot and after almost four hours, the dead bodies were recovered,” said Kamle district superintendent of police (SP) Thutan Jamba.
Jamba said that five of the six members died on the spot but miraculously, the little girl survived. “Maybe the adults shielded her when the car was rolling down,” he said.
“We rescued her and sent her to a nearby hospital. She is responding well to the treatment,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“We rescued her and sent her to a nearby hospital. She is responding well to the treatment,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The deceased have been identified as Tania Yudik (40), Tajum Nuk(24), Pakmar Paksok (21), Beto Marde (24) and Getor Pagmen(33).
Officials said that the bodies were sent to Naharlagun hospital for postmortem and later handed over to the family.
“Five of the six passengers died and the little survivor is struggling. So we cannot say what actually happened. We’ll try to record the statement of the other family members, once they are ready,” police said.