Five people were killed and 18 others injured after the bus they were traveling in fell into a ravine near Dehalchauri in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal, police said.
The accident occurred around 4 pm when the bus was on its way from Pauri to Srinagar. It had left Pauri bus stand around 3 pm and fell into the gorge near Kothar band.
Pauri Garhwal Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Lokeshwar Singh said that of the 18 injured, five have been taken to Srinagar and 13 others have been sent to Pauri district hospital.
Singh said the cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained.
Meanwhile, District Magistrate Ashish Chauhan has directed the officials of the transport department to investigate the causes of the accident.
The identities of the deceased and the victims have not yet been released by the administration.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed his condolences.
“Received the sad news of the death of passengers in the Pauri bus accident. I pray to God to give the departed souls a place in his feet and give strength to the bereaved family to bear this pain,” Dhami said.
He said relief and rescue operations are underway by the local administration and the injured are being treated at the nearest hospital. “I pray to Baba Kedar for speedy recovery of the injured,” he added.
In another incident, one person died while three others were injured after the car they were traveling in fell into a 200-metre-deep ravine at Jeolikote in Nainital district on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
A police team rushed to the spot after receiving an alert via the emergency number 112 and carried out a rescue operation. All the injured were taken to the BD Pandey Government Hospital in Nainital where doctors declared one person “brought dead”.
The deceased was identified as Mojum Khan (26), a resident of Bareilly.
The police sent the body for an autopsy and informed the next of kin about the incident.
Tallital police station in-charge Ramesh Singh Vohra said, “One person died while three were injured after their car, registration number UP 25 DD 4750, fell into a ravine in Jeolikote on Saturday-Sunday night at 12:30 am . The body of the deceased was handed over to his family members after the post-mortem.”
