Five persons died and eight others, including two children, were injured in a road accident when a vehicle going from Pokhri to Chandee skidded off and plunged into 70- metre deep gorge near Ganiyala village on the Pokhri-Harishanker-Rita motor road under Pokhri block in Chamoli district around 36 kms away from Karnprayag on Thursday afternoon. All the four persons died on the spot. While the bodies were retrieved from under the gorge the injured were rushed to community health centre at Pokhri from where they were later referred to a higher medical facility.
According to the information provided by the Tehsil administration Pokhri , the deceased have been identified as Aasha Devi, 63, of Semtop, Dhum Singh, 29, of Thapalgaon, Hari Singh, 77, of Joorasi, Bashi Devi, 30, and Sabar Singh,60, of Majjyari.
Police ascribed the accident to the driver losing control over the wheels while negotiating a sharp bend. The eight injured are the driver Basudev, Bansi Devi, Nirmala Devi, Manoj, Hema Devi and Vikram Singh Negi aside from two children.
Earlier, SP Tripti Bhatt and SDM reached the spot and monitored the rescue operation. Pokhri police station in-charge Prem Singh Negi said that the bodies have been sent for autopsy. He further informed that 12 persons, including the driver, were sitting in the jeep while its capacity is 10.
Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had expressed grief over the deaths in the road accident reported from Chamoli district and conveyed condolences to the bereaved family members and wished speedy recovery of the injured.