Fear of death of 7 tourists from Chhattisgarh in Himachal, car fell in a very inaccessible area of ​​Chamba.

Mayank Trigun, Senior Correspondent
Chamba. A very painful news is coming out from Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. Eight people, including seven members of two families from Chhattisgarh who had come to see the beautiful valleys of the mountains, are feared dead in a road accident. This horrific incident occurred on the Bairagarh-Sach Pass-Killar road of Churah sub-division, where at midnight on May 29, an Ertiga car filled with tourists went out of control and fell into a very deep gorge. The accident was so severe that the car was blown to pieces. All the people traveling in the vehicle are missing since the accident. Local administration and police teams are carrying out rescue operations on the spot, but considering the circumstances, there is little hope of anyone surviving.

Actually, both these families from Chhattisgarh were staying in a hotel in Dalhousie, a famous tourist destination of Chamba. It is being told that on the morning of 29th May, all these people had gone out towards Sach Pass for sightseeing. According to the schedule, they had to return by evening to the same hotel in Dalhousie where they were booked. But when the vehicle did not return even late in the night and the tourists’ mobile phones also started becoming out of reach, the hotel management suspected something untoward. Without wasting any time, the hotel staff immediately informed the local police, after which a large-scale search operation was started.

Accident happened in inaccessible valley, rescue team faced difficulty

During the search, the police came to know that the tourists’ Ertiga car (HP-01C-2133) had met with an accident on the Bairagarh-Sach Pass-Killar road. According to the local people, the place where the vehicle fell into the ditch is a very inaccessible and steep area. The ditch is so deep that rescue teams are struggling to reach there. Looking at the debris of the damaged vehicle, it can be estimated how severe the accident might have been.

The identities of the victims of this accident have also been revealed. Arvind, a resident of Chhattisgarh, his wife Prachi, their two sons Darsh and Apshad were traveling in the car. Apart from this, P.G. from another family. Karthigeyan, his wife Manimala and their son Nandan were also present in the car. Apart from these seven tourists, the vehicle was being driven by a local driver Vishwas, a resident of Dalhousie, Chamba.

SP left for the spot, mourning spread in Chamba

Seeing the seriousness of the accident, Chamba Superintendent of Police (SP) Vijay Saklani himself left for the incident site on Sunday. He said that as soon as the control room got information about the accident, police and quick reaction teams were immediately sent to the spot. Confirming the matter, SP Saklani said that the accident site is in a geographically difficult area, due to which the rescue operation is taking time. Police and local administration teams are trying their best to find the missing people by descending into the ditch.

Second major road accident in Chamba district in the same month

Be it carelessness while traveling in the mountains or bad weather, this is the second major road accident this month involving tourists in Chamba district. Earlier, on the night of 10th May, a painful incident had come to light on the Kakira-Lahru road of Bhatiat sub-division. At that time, an Innova car carrying six tourists from Gujarat went out of control during the rain and fell into the ditch, in which six people died on the spot and four were seriously injured. They were going from Manali towards Dalhousie.

These two major accidents that happened within the same month have once again raised big questions regarding the safety of tourists traveling on the hilly roads of Himachal. At present, the police is investigating whether the accident happened due to sleepiness of the driver or due to loss of speed at the turn, the vehicle went straight into the ditch.