DEVPRAYAG: In a tragic incident, five members of a family lost their lives after a car plunged into a river in Devprayag, located in Uttarakhand’s Tehri district, on Saturday, officials said.
The vehicle veered off the road and fell into a deep gorge, resulting in a fatal crash, they added.
According to authorities, six people were travelling in the car at the time of the accident. One woman was miraculously rescued from the wreckage and is currently receiving medical treatment. She is still in shock. The remaining five occupants died on the spot.
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) launched a rescue operation soon after being alerted. Teams used cranes and other heavy machinery to pull the mangled vehicle out of the river, a process that took several hours due to the difficult terrain.
Officials said that all the bodies trapped under the vehicle had been recovered.
"The car has been pulled out. It took several hours. The bodies have also been retrieved. The police are examining how the accident took place, " an SDRF official said.
All five victims are believed to be from the same family, according to the police. The deceased have been sent for postmortem examination to the nearest hospital.
There is a sense of shock and grief in the area as local residents gathered at the accident site. The local administration, police, and emergency personnel are present and coordinating relief and rescue efforts.
While the exact cause of the accident is still under investigation, preliminary reports suggest that speeding may have led to the driver losing control of the vehicle which fell into the river killing five people on the spot.
Officials said that relatives of the deceased have started arriving at the accident site.