In a major road accident, four persons died while three were injured when the vehicle they were in slipped into a 400-metre deep gorge along Yamuna river near Hathiyari tunnel, Vikasnagar, on Thursday night. The accident occurred around 16 km away from Vikasnagar at around 11.30 pm.
All the passengers were natives of Rajouri (Jammu and Kashmir) and they were returning from Barkot, Uttarkashi, after attending a marriage ceremony, said Vikasnagar circle officer SK Singh. He added that the headlight of the car being dysfunctional from Kotdwar might have caused the mishap.
Singh said that police had rushed to the spot on being informed. The local civil police along with State Disaster Response Force jawans, fire service and jal department personnel had conducted relief and rescue operation in the night and bodies were recovered from the river after around four hours. The police had arranged a generator to light up the area to ensure that the operation went on smoothly. Three persons died on the spot while one was declared brought dead by doctors in a local hospital. Three seriously injured were admitted in the local hospital.
The deceased have been identified as Balwant Raj (55), ASI, SOG, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Ganesh Singh (35), driver and owner of the vehicle, Malkit Singh (20) and Sankar (55), all natives of Rajouri.
