8 dead in Chamba accident, bodies retrieved after 2 days

Shimla: Eight people – seven tourists and a taxi driver – were killed after the vehicle they were travelling in plunged about 500 metres into a gorge near Kalaban on the Bairagarh-Sach Pass-Killar road in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district.The accident occurred late Friday night, but it came to light Saturday evening when the vehicle failed to return to its starting point, and the GPS location indicated that it was stationed near Kalaban. The taxi was headed towards the snow-covered Sach Pass, one of the state's most challenging mountain routes.The worried vehicle owner raised an alarm and informed the police. Following this, the local administration launched a search operation on Saturday, spotting the vehicle wreckage deep inside a gorge along the route. However, the bodies could not be retrieved on Saturday due to bad weather and tough terrain, said an official.The official said that the search operation resumed on Sunday, and a police team reached the accident spot in the morning. The bodies were retrieved and then pulled up using ropes.Chamba SP Vijay Saklani and additional deputy commissioner Amit Mehra also visited the spot to oversee the rescue operation."There were eight people in the vehicle, and all were found dead. The vehicle fell into a deep gorge. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims. The tourists were from different places," said Mehra.The victims, including two children, belonged to two families – one from Karnataka and the other from Chhattisgarh. They had met in Dalhousie in Chamba district and decided to go together for a trip to Sach Pass, located at a height of around 4,400 metres, to witness snow.The deceased were identified as Arvind Chandrakar, his wife Prachi, their sons Darsh and Akshad, and P G Karthikeyan, his wife Manimala and son Nandan. Taxi driver Vishwas, a resident of Banikhet in Chamba district, also lost his life in the accident.A police officer said that the bodies were sent to the govt hospital in Chamba for post-mortem. The reason behind the accident is not yet clear. We are investigating the matter, the officer added.