Tuesday, 18 JULY 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN/NAINITAL
Two men from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh were killed and five others sustained serious injuries when their car fell into a gorge on the Nainital-Kaladhungi road in the wee hours of Monday. All victims belong to the same family who had reportedly come to Nainital for vacation, said the station house officer of Kaldhungi police station, Nandan Rawat. He told this correspondent that the accident occurred near Priya Bend and a rescue team from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) reached the spot to carry out the relief and rescue operation after the police approached them. The deceased were brothers who have been identified as Rahul Srivastava (27) and Rajeev Srivastava (25) who died on the spot. It took considerable time for rescue teams to retrieve their bodies from the gorge. The victims who sustained serious injuries are the deceased’s parents Premchand Srivastava (52) and Aruna Srivastava (50), Rahul’s wife Shalu (25) and their daughter Mishti (2.5 years) besides a close relative named Akash Srivastava (22). The injured were sent to the hospital for treatment where their condition was critical till late evening, said Rawat. On the question of the probable cause of the accident, he said that it is possible the driver was driving the car in neutral while coming down the road and failed to control it near the bend. “It was also quite dark and rainy which possibly caused the driver to lose control near the bend. These are some of the possible reasons. We cannot ascertain any cause right now without talking to the hospitalised victims. Their condition is quite critical so the police have not talked to any of them yet,” said the SHO.
