12 dead as car falls into gorge in Uttarakhand

MUSSOORIE: Twelve people were killed on Friday after the jeep they were travelling in fell into a deep gorge of about 500 meters near the Palla Jakhol village in Chamoli district, said an official of the state disaster response force (SDRF).

SDRF’S media in-charge, Lalita Negi, said, “The car, which is said to be a Tata Sumo, was overloaded. It had 12 people inside, who all are dead and 5 people were sitting atop who jumped before the accident. We have intensively searched the vehicle and areas around it. Our team is making efforts to pull the bodies from the gorge.”

According to Negi, the jeep fell into the gorge around 3:30 pm, at a spot around 25-30 kms from Joshimath.

After the SDRF received news of the accident, a team was rushed to the spot from the Joshimath post. Later, another team of SDRF from Pandukeshwar post was also dispatched to the accident site, said Negi.

According to officials privy to the matter, the vehicle may have been heading towards Kimana village from Joshimath.

Chamoli district magistrate Himanshu Khurana, superintendent of police Pramendra Dobhal and other senior officials also reached the accident spot later in the day, they said.