Pauri (U’khand), October 5
In all, 33 members of a wedding party were killed and 19 injured when a bus carrying them fell into a gorge in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district, the police said on Wednesday.
The tragedy struck around 7 pm on Tuesday as the bus, which was on its way to Kanda village in Bironkhal from Laldhang town in Haridwar, plunged into the 500-m deep gorge near Simri bend.
Local villagers were the first to reach the spot and used mobile phone flashlights to look for the victims in the night before assistance arrived.
There were over 50 people in the bus. Rescue operations were carried out throughout the intervening night and on Wednesday, the police said.
In all, 31 bodies were retrieved while two injured succumbed on way to the hospital taking the toll to 33, State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) in-charge Vikas Ramola said, adding the rescue operation had come to an end.
Twenty persons injured in the accident were pulled out and rushed to hospitals in Bironkhal, Rikhnikhal and Kotdwar, the police said.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who along with former Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank arrived for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation, met the people hospitalised in Kotdwar.
He announced Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.
