Three days after heavy rainfall wreaked havoc in the Uttarakhand, eight persons were killed and eight others were injured near Dehradun district’s Khunna village as a utility vehicle fell into a gorge after it passed over a road damaged by incessant rains here.
The accident occurred on Saturday night, however, the administration began the rescue operations only in the wee hours of Sunday.
“The road near Khunna [in Dehradun district’s Kalsi tehsil] had sunk due to continuous rainfall and when the utility vehicle carrying 16 persons passed over damaged patch it went into the gorge,” Station House Office (SHO) of the Kalsi police station Hari Om said.
While eight persons died on the spot, the eight injured persons were taken to nearby hospitals.
The accident added to a series of rain-related incidents that have been occurring across the State for three days.
On Friday separate incidents of landslides and flashfloods due to heavy rains had killed many people in Chamoli, Pithoragarh and Nainital districts.
After the accident number of deaths in rain-related incidents across the State has reached 27, with 17 persons missing. Since the missing persons have not been spotted for three days now, officials said that there was only bleak possibility of the bodies being found.
Relief and rescue operations are underway in the deluge affected regions of Pithoragarh and Chamoli for three days now. Roads have been flushed in the flashfloods and hundreds of affected villagers have taken shelter in government hospitals and government schools. However, electricity and drinking water supply are yet to be restored in the affected villages.
