THREE KILLED AFTER CAR FALLS INTO GORGE IN CHAMOLI: POLICE

Three people were killed after the car they were travelling in fell into a 300-metre gorge near Mankhi village of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand, a police official said on Saturday.

The police identified the deceased as Badri Prasad Raturi (42), a resident of Kumgunj village, Rakesh Sati (51), a resident of Mankhi village, and Lalita Prasad (57), a resident of Kandai village.The incident took place on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday around 1:15 pm, said the officials.

According to the police, prima facie it appears the vehicle “lost balance and fell into the gorge.”

Station house officer (SHO) at Nandanagar police station Rajesh Singh confirmed the accident. “We received information that a Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 car had fallen into a gorge. Upon receiving the information, our team rushed to the spot with all required rescue equipment.”

“All the three passengers were taken out of the car and rushed to Nandanagar Ghat Hospital. They were declared dead by the doctors,” the SHO said. “According to initial probe, the vehicle appears to have lost balance leading to the accident,” he said.

“We have handed over the bodies to the families of the victims after all medico legal formalities,” he said.

This is not the first such accident as earlier on March 19, two people were killed after the jeep they were travelling in fell into a 700-metre deep gorge in Rudraprayag district.

The victims, identified as Darpan Singh (53) and Ganga Singh (31), residents of Pithoragarh, had died on the spot, according to the police.

In February, six people were killed and one suffered serious injuries after the car they were travelling in veered off the road and plunged into a 800-metredeep ditch in Dehradun.

Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami on January 9 had instructed the concerned officials that effective efforts should be made to control the road accidents. He had said that road safety audits should be conducted regularly at accidentprone spots.