2 forest rangers among 4 dead as trial EV meets with accident in Uttarakhand

The deceased have been identified as forest range officers Shailesh Ghildiyal and Pramod Dhyani, Saif Ali Khan and Kulraj Singh. Wildlife protector Aloki is missing.

The injured include Govind Singh, son of Himanshu Gosai who was in the vehicle, doctor Rakesh Nautiyal, Ankush, Amit Semwal and Ashwin Biju. Kulraj and Ankush are said to be the employees of a vehicle manufacturing company.

As per the authorities, an interceptor vehicle brought in for patrolling and animal rescue was taken out for trial in the Chilla range when the accident took place. As the EV was going from Chilla towards Rishikesh, it hit a tree ahead of the Chilla Power House and collided with the parapet of the Chilla Shakti Canal. In the impact, some of the occupants fell into the ditch, while Aloki fell into the canal.

People traveling behind them in another vehicle informed the police and park administration about the accident and the rescue operation started soon. Police and forest department employees took out the injured people from the ditch and rushed them to AIIMS where the doctors declared four people dead.

In its statement, the SDRF said, “Under the leadership of Manikant Mishra, Commandant SDRF, a search operation was carried out till late night in search of a woman officer who went missing during a vehicle accident in Chilla Canal. After taking stock of the incident site, Commandant SDRF identified important places for effective search operations where there is a strong possibility of success during the search. Necessary instructions were also given to SDRF deep divers by him.”

On Tuesday morning, SDRF’s deep diving experts re-started the search operation in Shakti Canal. The flow of water has also been stopped in Chilla canal till further orders as the divers will be searching the bottom of the canal.