14 dead, 12 injured after tourist vehicle falls down mountainside in Rudraprayag
Sunday, 16 JUNE 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
At least 14 persons died and 12 were injured after a Tempo Traveller carrying tourists from Gurugram fell about 200 metres down the mountainside and onto the banks of the Alaknanda river on the national highway to Badrinath in Rudraprayag district on Saturday. On the instructions of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, seven seriously injured persons were airlifted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh while the other injured persons are being treated at the district hospital in Rudraprayag. Chief minister Dhami has also directed an investigation into the mishap.
According to official sources, the vehicle bringing tourists to Chopta-Tungnath met with the mishap at about 11 AM near Raitoli in Rudraprayag district. Two teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) reached the site of the mishap and conducted the rescue and relief operation with the help of the local police and members of the public. Ten persons died on the spot while 14 were rescued and brought to the district hospital in Rudraprayag where doctors declared one of the persons dead and another died during treatment. Seven critically injured were airlifted to the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh where two others succumbed to their injuries. Out of the 14 persons who died in the mishap, three could not be identified till late in the evening. The dead who have been identified include Smriti Sharma (28) on Sonbhadra (UP), Mohini Pande (27) from Pratapgarh (UP), the driver Karan Singh from Aligarh, Nikita Bhatt from Khatima, Gurukirat Singh, Akanksha from Jhansi, Brijesj Bisht from Uttarakhand, Smriti Tripathy from UP, Anjali Srivastav and Niket Sunil Sharma.
According to officials, the 26 people in the vehicle were on a trip to Chopta-Tungnath-Chandrashila when the driver lost control of the vehicle which fell about 200 metres down the mountainside. During the mishap, one of the woman passengers was thrown out of the vehicle and got stuck in the bushes about 80 metres below the road. The SDRF personnel rescued the woman and sent her to the hospital.
