Tuesday, 11 July 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on Monday retrieved the vehicle that fell into the Ganga river near the Rishikesh- Srinagar National Highway (NH 58) in Tehri district in the wee hours of Sunday. Despite searching for hours, authorities are yet to find the bodies of three missing people. A total of 11 pilgrims belonging to various states including Delhi, Bihar, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh travelling in the vehicle from Sonprayag in Rudraprayag district to Rishikesh fell into a gorge near the highway around 3 AM on Sunday.
The authorities rescued six injured people with the help of ropes in the first three hours after getting the information. The rescue team retrieved three bodies within two hours after rescuing the injured, as per the officials. The teams had to stop the search operation on Sunday evening due to rising water level of the river due to heavy rain as it made it difficult for them to continue the operation.
The teams resumed the operation on Monday morning and retrieved the vehicle that fell off the NH after a boulder hit it due to which the driver lost control. “The divers of SDRF retrieved the vehicle from the bottom of the river. There was nobody inside it. We conducted the operation for hours but did not find missing people’s bodies. It is possible that the bodies got washed away due to the rising water level of the river. We will resume the search operation on Tuesday as well considering the weather,” said a senior police official. The missing people have been identified as Atul Singh (24), Akshay Kumar (28) from Bihar, and the driver Ankit Singh Rana from Ukhimath, Rudraprayag.
