Fourteen tourists dead,12 injured as tempo traveller roll down into Alaknanda river, PM announce relief for dead, injured

Fourteen tourists dead,12 injured as tempo traveller roll down into Alaknanda river, PM announce relief for dead, injured

Dehradun, June 15

Fourteen tourists were killed and 12 others were injured when a tempo traveller in which they were travelling skidded off the road and breaking the parapet fell into the Alaknanda river 21 meters below at Ratauli on theRishikesh-Badrinath national highway in Rudraprayag district  of Uttarakhand today.  According to Uttarakhand Statet Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) commandant Manikant Mishra ten persons  10 died on the spot, two each succumbed to their injuries at AIIMS Rishikesh and Rudraprayag district hospital.

The tourist travelling in a tempo traveller were coming from Noida (UP) on their way to Tungnath-Chopta.according to local officials, the accident occurred around 11am, and police and SDRF teams rushed to the spot and started relief and rescue operations. The vehicle fell on the banks of Alaknanda river about 250 metres below the road. President Droupadi Murmu condoled the loss of lives in the accident and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured. The injured were rushed to Rudraprayag district hospital and seven of the critically injured were airlifted to AIIMS,Rishikesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his grief over the accident and termed it “heartbreaking”. “The road accident in Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand is heartbreaking. My deepest condolences to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones. Along with this, I wish speedy recovery of all the injured. Under the supervision of the state government, the local administration is engaged in providing all possible help to the victims,” Modi wrote on X. The Prime Minister’s office also announced a relief of Rs. Two lakh each to the next of kin of those deceased and Rs.50,000 to those injured.

Union home minister Amit Shah expressed condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the accident.

Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed grief over the accident and ordered a magisterial inquiry by the district magistrate into the accident. He himself visited the injured brought to AIIMS, Rishikesh. He also directed the officials to look into the reasons of frequent road accident during yatra season and take remedial measures.

According to police,the dead have been identified as Samriti Sharma (28), d/o of rajesh Kumar, Mudarwa Hightech colony, Renukot, Sonbhadra (UP),Mohini Pandey(27) d/o Mhesh Prasad Pandey, jagpur, Pratapgarh (UP), Karan Singh, Nikita Bhatt ,Khatima (Uttarakhand), Gurkirat Singh,Akakansha, Samriti Tripathi (UP), Anjali Srivastava, Niket Sunil Sharma,Brijesh Singh (Uttarakhand). Four of the dead have not yet been identified. Those admitted in Rudraprayag district hospital are Vandana Sharma,NOIDA, Mahima Tripathi (UP), Shubham Singh,Noida, namita Sharma (UP),Lakshya Aggarwal , Amit s/o Manohar Singh (MP) and Shashank Bisht, Haldwani.Those who airlifted to AIIMS were Dharmendra Kumar, Sonik, Aditya, Chhavi and Abhishek.