Three people on their way to a wedding were killed and two others seriously injured after the Sport Utility Vehicle they were travelling from Shyampur Ghadi Mechak to Pavki Devi Nai plunged into a 300-metre-deep gorge in Uttarakhand’s Tehri district late on Wednesday.
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) said the vehicle lost control. Rescuers carried out an operation through the night in coordination with the local police in difficult terrain amid darkness.
SDRF media in charge Vineet Devrani said that Nikhil Ramola, 21, and Tanuj Pundir, 26, were found seriously injured, and Vimal Kandiyal, 31, Rahul Kaluda, 23, and Ashish Kaluda, 26, died on the spot. “The injured were immediately shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment,” he said.
Police said the exact cause of the accident is under investigation, though loss of control on a steep, narrow stretch of a road is suspected.