32 dead in Uttarakhand bus mishap, 18 rescued alive; SDRF concludes search and rescue operation

A wedding party bus carrying 45-50 people fell into a gorge in Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal district. 50 people onboard, 32 of whom died and 18 of whom were injured.

Image Credit: ANI; Representational Image

New Delhi: Over 50 people onboard, 32 of whom died and 18 of whom were injured. According to SDRF, the rescue work has been completed. According to police, a wedding party bus carrying 45-50 people fell into a gorge in Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal district on Wednesday. The bus was on its way to Kanda village in Bironkhal from Haridwar's Laldhang town when it crashed into a 500-metre gorge near Simri bend at around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, according to witnesses.

According to police, rescue operations continued all night. Twenty people were injured in the accident and were rushed to hospitals in Bironkhal, Rikhnikhal, and Kotdwar. According to reports, two of the injured died on the way to the hospital. On Tuesday evening, a rescue operation was launched shortly after the incident. However, the rescuers' efforts were hampered by darkness.

According to eyewitnesses, villagers then used flashlights on their mobile phones to rescue those trapped inside the bus because there were no lights at the scene of the accident. Later, officials rushed to the scene and arranged for ambulances, lighting, and life-saving equipment.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who arrived in Kotdwar on Tuesday with former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation, met with those hospitalised.

Dhami announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh for the deceased's next of kin and Rs 50,000 for the injured. He hoped that all bodies would be found by the evening. On Tuesday night, Dhami went to the Disaster Management Authority office in Dehradun to assess the situation following the bus accident.