23 pilgrims killed as truck falls into gorge in Uttarakhand
Twenty three pilgrims from Haryana were on Sunday killed when a truck in which they were travelling fell into a gorge in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, which has been lashed by torrential rains during the last two days. The incident took place at Dabrani on Rishikesh-Gangotri national highway about 70 kms from here when the truck, which was on its on way to Gangotri, fell into the 150 meter-deep gorge killing 23 'Kanwarias'( shiv devotees), Uttarkashi district magistrate, Mr Saurabh Jain, told PTI.
20 bodies have been fished out by the police and ITBP personnel, he said, adding efforts are on to extricate three more bodies from the accident site.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Mr Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, has also ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. Heavy rains and floods over the last two days have left six others dead and thrown life out of gear in the state. Several important roads were washed away in the heavy floods due to which a large number of villages cut off. A vital stretch of Raipur-Chamba road was also washed away due to heavy floods in the river Song in Dehra Dun, where large areas have been inundated leading to loss of property after last night's torrential rains that broke a 44-year record.
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