Kullu: 7 tourists killed as vehicle falls into gorge at Banjar

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Kullu, September 26

Seven tourists, including three girls, were killed and 10 others were injured when the Tempo Traveller they were travelling in fell into a 500-foot gorge at Jalora near Ghiyagi village in Banjar subdivision of Kullu district last night.

The vehicle carrying 17 passengers was on its way to Jibhi from the Jalori Pass when the mishap occurred. Shoja villagers and members of tourism associations of Jibhi rushed to rescue the passengers. Eyewitnesses said that five tourists died on the spot while two others died at a hospital. The injured were taken to the Banjar hospital and from there they were referred to the Kullu Regional Hospital.

The travel was arranged by an agency in Delhi and the passengers had reached Jibhi on September 24. They went for trekking to the Jalori Pass next day and were returning at night when the driver lost control over the vehicle due to a brake failure and it fell into the gorge.

Kullu SP Gurdev Sharma said that the deceased had been identified as Saurabh, Priyanka Gupta and Kiran, all from Delhi; and Rishabh Raj, Anshika Jain, Aditya and Ananmay, all from Uttar Pradesh. The injured persons are Rahul Goswami, Kshitija Agarwal, Priyapal and Ishan Gupta, all from Haryana; driver Ajay Chauhan, Abhinav Singh and Nishtha Badoni from Uttar Pradesh; Rishav from New Delhi; Lakshaya from Rajasthan; and Jai Aggarwal from Madhya Pradesh, he added.

He said that the vehicle was not overloaded. A case has been registered and investigation was underway.

Kullu Regional Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Naresh Chand said that the condition of two of the injured passengers was critical while others were out of danger. He added that the family members of some of the injured arrived in the afternoon, while others were on their way to Kullu. The bodies would be handed over to the bereaved families after a postmortem examination.