Five of family killed as car falls into gorge in Uttarakhand

Dehradun: Five members of a family were killed when their car fell into a deep gorge on Mussoorie-Dhanolti road, police said on Wednesday.

The accident occurred near Masrana on Mussoorie-Dhanolti road late last evening when Hukum Singh Kharola, a property dealer, was returning along with his wife, mother and two children from his village Pratapnagar in Tehri district to Dehradun, police control room here said.

The car fell into a 500-metre deep gorge killing all its five occupants on the spot, it said.

Mangal Singh Aswal and Balbir Singh Sajwan, who ran a shop near the spot rushed to the accident site and reported the matter to the police.

A rescue operation was carried out by a combined team of police, State Disaster Response Force and ITBP and the bodies were recovered late at night, it said.

The deceased have been identified as Hukum Singh Kharola, his wife Pramila (40), mother Nagi Devi (70), his daughter Priti (20) and his son Niraj (18).

Chief Minister Harish Rawat has expressed grief at the loss of lives in the accident.