Vehicle fell into a deep gorge in Chamoli disrict, 12 dead
A vehicle fell into a 500 meter deep gorge near Palla village on Friday on the under-construction Urgam-Palla Jakhola motorway in Urgam Valley. Of the 21 people traveling, 12 died while four were injured. One person had alighted just before the accident while 4 people sitting on the roof of Max jumped before falling into the gorge, saving their lives.
According to the police, on Friday afternoon a Max was going from Joshimath to Kimana village with passengers. At around 3:30 PM, the vehicle failed to proceed on a steep climb near Palla village. Seeing it moving backwards, Jitpal Singh of Kimana village, who was riding on it, got down along with another and started putting stones at the base of the tyre to get traction. It is said that due to overloading the vehicle the momentum took the vehicle down fast. During this the driver lost control of the vehicle. Within seconds, it fell 500 meters into a gorge.
NDRF and SDRF reached the information and started the rescue operation. By late evening the bodies of 12 people had been retrieved. Four injured were also evacuated who have been brought to Primary Health Center Urgam for treatment. Teams of NDRF, SDRF as well as the local people were engaged in the rescue operation till late night.
