Six persons were killed and 25 were injured when the bus they were travelling in fell off the road into a gorge in Chamoli district on Thursday. The bus was plying from Gopeshwar to Rudraprayag and met with the mishap near Drongiri village between Nandprayag and Pursadi at around 1.30 pm.
Four persons died on the spot, while two died en route to the hospital in Gopeshwar. All the injured persons have been admitted to the district hospital in Gopeshwar. Chamoli Superintendent of Police P Renuka Devi who reached the accident site to oversee the rescue work, informed The Pioneer that the bus was being driven by Deepak, the son of the bus owner Ramesh Bahuguna.
The mishap occurred about 8 kms from Chamoli with the bus falling down a 60 metre deep gorge. The bodies of a lady and a child aged about two years have not been identified yet, while the others killed in the mishap have been identified as Savitri Devi, Yashoda Devi, Sira Singh, all residents of Chamoli, and Deepak Bahuguna.
The SP informed that while the injured had been taken to the hospital in Gopeshwar for treatment, two seriously injured persons had been referred to Srinagar Base hospital. Chief Medical Officer Dr Ajeet Gairola said that the seriously injured had been sent to the base hospital in Srinagar. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has expressed grief at the accident and empathised with the families of those who died and were injured.