On Tuesday, late at night, 24 people were killed and at least three went missing after the bus they were traveling in fell down a deep gorge in Uttarakhand. The police said that the bus full of pilgrims was traveling from Gangotri to Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
The incident occurred at 6 P.M., in Nalupanu of Uttarakashi when the bus fell 300 meters into the river from the road. Eight of the injured were rescued and have been admitted to the Community Health Centre at Chinyalisaud. Three people are missing and some even fell into the river Bhagirathi flowing below.
Rescue operation by #ITBP with SDRF at accident site. Injured/dead being brought to the rescue base. 6 dead bodies retrieved so far. pic.twitter.com/ETjmu7nLhK
— ITBP (@ITBP_official) May 23, 2017
District Magistrate Ashish Srivastava and the officials rushed to spot, but the rescue operations were interrupted because of darkness. Bodies have been recovered from the river but have to be identified yet. The SDRF and ITPB teams went down the gorge and were able to rescue 8 passengers. PM Narendra Modu announced a Rs.2 lakh ex gratia to the kin of the deceased.
Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat announced Rs. 1 lakh to the deceased and Rs. 50,000 for the injured. MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan also announced Rs. 2 lakh ex gratia for the victims kin. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan also expressed grief over the tragedy and issued instructions for immediate aid to the victims.
