Wednesday, 28 June 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Seven people died in four separate accidents in Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Almora districts of the State on Tuesday. A car carrying two people, including a woman, fell into a 300-metre deep gorge on Tuesday afternoon in the Hokra area of the Pithoragarh district. The police have identified the deceased as Khushal Singh (41) and Yamuna Devi (32), who were residents of the Kapkot area of the Bageshwar district.
The local police along with the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) conducted a search operation to retrieve the body of victims from the deep gorge, said the police circle officer of Pithoragarh Narendra Pant. The accident reportedly occurred near the same spot of Hokra where a vehicle fell into a 500-metre deep gorge a week ago in which 10 people lost their lives. The authorities had to conduct a nearly four hour long search operation with the help of the National Disaster Response Force and SDRF to retrieve bodies.
The authorities concerned have still not been able to ascertain the cause of that accident. Many have also speculated that the said route is not safe for four-wheeler driving which is leading to frequent accidents in the area. The Pithoragarh CO told this correspondent that the authorities concerned will work on figuring out the probable cause of these accidents in the area. “Experts from the Road Safety Committee along with the officials of other departments concerned will inspect the route to analyse the condition of the road and other associated factors. The accidents that occurred within a span of a week are quite tragic and the authorities will work to figure out whether there is an issue with the roads in the area or it happened because of the drivers’ mistake,” said Pant.
Another accident occurred near Delhi-bend in Pithoragarh district late on Monday night in which a man identified as Manoj Kumar lost his life. His body was found near his vehicle that reportedly fell 100 metres down the road near a river, as per the officials. Apart from this, a car carrying two women, who were on their way to Dehradun, fell into a 300-metre deep gorge in the Khankra area of the Rudraprayag district. The officials said that when the police reached the accident site, it was revealed that the driver of the car Mahendra Singh Rawat had stopped the car to respond to the nature’s call but he forgot to apply hand brake due to which the car fell into the deep gorge. The officials said that the deceased have been identified as Kamla Devi (60) and Lakshmi Devi (45) who were mother and daughter. The police said that they are probing the matter and will take action accordingly. Besides this, two teenagers Bhawna (17) and Aditya (16) died after drowning in the Vishwanath River in the Dharanaula area of Almora district late on Monday night. The police along with SDRF conducted a search operation late at night and recovered their bodies in the wee hours of Tuesday, said the officials. They said that the bodies will be handed over to the families after completion of necessary procedures as per the rules.
