Una: Six killed as car rolls into gorge

SIX PERSONS, four of them women, were killed and 10 people injured as a private vehicle skidded off the road and rolled down into a 70-ft deep gorge on Nehrian-Mairi Road in Una district Monday.

Una Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Prajapati said all the passengers in the ill-fated vehicle, a Toyota Qualis, were from Undowal Khajra village in Gurdaspur (Punjab) and were returning from Mairi, a popular Sikh shrine, after paying obeisance at gurdawara. All the injured were taken to Regional Hospital, Una.

The police claimed that the vehicle was overloaded as 16 persons were travelling in it. Most of the victims died on the spot. Una Superintendent of Police Divakar Sharma said such accidents usually take place due to the “negligence of drivers” and that a probe was on.

The driver of the vehicle, Gurdial Singh, is among the survivors. A young couple and their three-month-old baby was among the injured, sources said.