Beach holiday ends in tragedy: 8 killed as SUV plunges 800 feet into gorge in Maharashtra’s Raigad
Following a 25-hour rescue operation in treacherous mountainous terrain, the police and rescue teams recovered the bodies of eight men from Satara who died after their Scorpio went off a sharp turn near Poladpur.
The vehicle was returning from the Dapoli-Harnai beach in the Ratnagiri district (Image generated using AI).
Eight men were killed in a road accident as their SUV plunged 800 feet into a deep gorge in the Ambenali Ghat section in Maharashtra’s Raigad district in the early hours of Sunday. The police said they were returning from an outing to the Dapoli-Harnai beach in the Ratnagiri district.
The bodies of all the victims were recovered from various spots along the slope of the gorge by Monday evening following a nearly 25-hour-long rescue operation carried out jointly by police, rescue teams and local residents in the difficult mountainous terrain.
According to the Raigad district police, the Scorpio vehicle carrying eight people, including the driver, was travelling from Dapoli towards Satara when the accident took place around 5.30 am on a sharp turn in the Ambenali Ghat section near Dabhil village on the Poladpur–Mahabaleshwar road.
“We have reasons to believe that the driver lost control while navigating a sharp turn, which has an upward gradient slope,” said an officer from the Poladpur police station.
According to the police, the accident was believed to have occurred around 5.30 am Sunday, but the Poladpur police station received information only around 11.30 pm that same day after the families of the deceased reported them missing.
A team from the Poladpur police station immediately launched a search-and-rescue operation. The police also mobilised ambulances, stretchers and rescue equipment. Multiple rescue teams, including local trekkers and volunteers from nearby villages, participated in the operation.
The police identified the deceased as Ansh Sameer Chavan, 19, from Ratnagiri district; Ritesh Rajendra Lokhande, 22, Suhas Jitendra Lokhande, 20, Mahesh Anil Pawar, 25, and Aditya Ashok Salunkhe, 21, all residents of Asgaon village in Satara district; Utkarsh Anand Shingte, 21, and Nikhil Abhimanyu Shingte, 21, from Medhe in Satara district; and Sandeep Ashok Katkar, 35, from Khatav in Satara district.
The police said that Katkar was driving the SUV. They filed a case of accidental death at the Poladpur police station and began further investigation under the supervision of senior police officers.
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