Uttarakhand: Two dead, 10 missing after vehicle falls into Alaknanda river
At least two people died and eight were injured when a vehicle carrying pilgrims plunged into the Alaknanda river in Uttarakhand on Thursday, PTI quoted police as saying.
Ten others are reportedly missing.
The vehicle, which had 20 people including the driver on board, met with the accident near Gholthir village on Badrinath National Highway, located between the Rudraprayag and Gauchar districts.
District Information Officer Rati Lal Shah told the Hindustan Times that the vehicle lost control before falling into the river below.
Satyendra Singh Bhandari, a member of the Red Cross Society rescue team, told PTI that two bodies have been recovered so far. One was found near the crash site and another from the river near Rudraprayag, Bhandari added.
Rescue and relief operations are underway.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that three of the injured pilgrims were sent to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh on a helicopter ambulance. Teams of the State Disaster Response Force and the water police are searching for the missing persons, and are also engaged in rescue and relief operations, he said.