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Five tourists from Bengal die as vehicle plunges into gorge in Sikkim
The vehicle was travelling towards Kaluk in Sikkim when it tumbled and fell about 100 feet.
Five tourists from West Bengal died and two were critically injured when the vehicle they were travelling in plunged into a gorge in Sikkim on Monday evening, officials said on Tuesday.
“A tourist vehicle with seven tourists and the driver met with an accident in between 7:30 pm and 8 pm on Monday near Reshi Bazar under Nayabazar police station. The vehicle was travelling towards Kaluk when it tumbled and fell about 100 feet. Five persons died on the spot,” AD Karki, district collector of West Sikkim, said.
The dead have been identified as Biswas Pathak, Lily Pathak, Bijendra Nath Pathak, Asha Lata Pathak and Neha Rendu Biswas.
Rajen Biswas and Tushar Kant Pathak were shifted to a hospital in Siliguri in West Bengal. The driver has been admitted to Namchi district hospital.
They were the residents of Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.
The group of tourists reached Sikkim on October 21 and checked into a hotel at Namchi. On Monday, they hired two cars and were heading towards another destination, when the second vehicle met with the accident.
Six tourists, two from Bengal and four from Odisha, lost their lives in May last year in a road accident in Sikkim when they were returning from Lachung in North Sikkim. Their vehicle fell from a hillock near Tashi View Point about 6 km away from Gangtok.
