Seven pilgrims killed, 28 injured after bus falls into gorge in Uttarkashi

Monday, 21 AUGUST 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN/NEW TEHRI

Seven pilgrims were killed and 28 others sustained serious injuries after a bus carrying 36 people fell into a 50-metre-deep gorge near Gangani on the Gangotri national highway in Uttarkashi on Sunday. Most of the pilgrims belonged to Gujarat and were returning from Gangotri when the bus met with an accident in the evening, said the district disaster management officer (DDMO) Devendra Patwal.  He said that the incident took place around 4 PM when the fell down the mountainside while on its way from Gangotri to Uttarkashi. Soon after getting the information of the accident, authorities deployed 30 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), 15 personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and 18 police personnel along with 20 locals to carry out search and rescue operations. The teams from the quick response team (QRT) and Health department besides nine ambulances, vehicles of Fire Service and Border Roads Organisation (BRO) among others were also made available at the accident site. The Uttarkashi district magistrate Abhishek Ruhela and superintendent of police (SP) Arpan Yaduvanshi were also present on the spot to oversee the rescue operation. The teams rescued 27 injured people in an hour and sent them to the the hospital for treatment. The teams had also removed seven bodies by 6 PM while one passenger who was stuck inside the bus was rescued at about 7 PM.
According to officials, the driver reportedly lost control of the bus but the exact cause is yet to be ascertained. The administration also asked Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) to provide assistance of helicopters to send the critical patients to AIIMS-RISHIKESH for treatment but the latter denied stating it not to be safe due to bad weather. Most of the pilgrims reportedly belong to Gujarat but they were yet to be identified til the time of this report being filed.