PIONEER NEWS SERVICE | New Tehri
Five persons from Haryana including four members of a family, died when the vehicle they were travelling in fell off the road into the river in Devprayag area of Tehri district on Saturday. The Devprayag police received information about a jeep meeting with an accident near Mulya village. The information was passed on to the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) after which a rescue operation was initiated.
The SDRF team reached the site of mishap where it found that the vehicle had fallen off road about 200 metres down the mountainside and landed in the river. There were five persons in the jeep when it met with the mishap. According to SDRF, the vehicle equipment were used to bring the vehicle to the bank of the river and extract the bodies. The five bodies were extricated and handed over to the district police for post mortem examination and other legal formalities.
The persons who lost their lives in the mishap have been identified as Faridabad, Haryana residents Sunil Gusain, his wife Meenu, Gusain’s sons Sujal and Nakku along with Aditya. The exact cause of the accident will be known after the investigation into the mishap concludes.
At a time when the hoteliers and others are seeking relaxation in regulations introduced by the authorities to ensure safe transport and control for public safety and smoother travel on mountain roads, accidents involving people from outside the State continue to elicit focus on the risks on mountain roads, especially for those not accustomed to driving in such terrain.
Road traffic accidents are continuing even before the start of the Char Dham Yatra, slated to start at the end of this month. The vehicular traffic is expected to rise considerably as the pilgrimage season begins. The authorities claim to be taking various measures for traffic management and safety but the evidence speaks otherwise.
