At least 30 people were killed and 20 others were injured when a bus carrying a wedding party fell into a gorge in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand on Tuesday evening, police said on Wednesday after an overnight rescue operation.
According to police, the bus was carrying 50 passengers and was on its way from Laaldhang in Haridwar to Kadagaon in Pauri when it slipped into the gorge around 7:30 pm near Simri village.
Following an alert, SDRF teams were rushed to the spot from Srinagar, Kotdwar, Satpuli, and Rudrapur camps, said SDRF in-charge, Lalita Negi.
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Uttarakhand SDRF commandant, Manikant Mishra, said: “30 people have died, and 23 bodies have been pulled up, rest are being retrieved. The remaining 20 people are being treated at different local hospitals.The cause of the incident is yet to be ascertained.”
Pauri Garhwal district magistrate, Vijay Kumar Jogdande, said: “Our operation is still on. We are pulling out the bodies with the help of ropes.”
{{/usCountry}}Pauri Garhwal district magistrate, Vijay Kumar Jogdande, said: “Our operation is still on. We are pulling out the bodies with the help of ropes.”
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All the deceased were aged between 4 and 51.
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami Dhami and Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank visited the accident site on Wednesday afternoon.
The CM announced ex-gratia relief of ₹2 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and ₹1 lakh to those badly injured.