At least 13 dead in road accidents in Uttarakhand; bus falls into ditch, SUV buried under boulders

The bus carried tourists from Haryana’s Hisar district and they were returning after visiting Nainital. Its driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle and it fell into a ditch about 200 metres deep.

Teams of the local police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) soon reached the spot and started rescue and relief operations. According to a statement issued by the SDRF, there were 33 people in the bus, of which six women and a child died on the spot. The 26 injured were admitted to hospitals for treatment.

In Pithoragarh, all six to eight passengers travelling in an SUV were suspected dead after the vehicle got buried under heavy boulders falling on the Dharchula-Lipulekh road near the India-Nepal border. The exact number of passengers in the SUV was not known yet.

Bhupendra Singh Mahar, Pithoragarh district disaster management officer, told The Indian Express that the vehicle belonged to one Harish Singh Nabiyal, a homestay owner, and was coming from the Nabi village.

The officials said they had recovered some body parts and called for some doctors to ascertain the exact number of victims. As the boulders are hefty, the rescue teams are still trying to find ways to remove them and recover the bodies.