One killed, woman goes missing after boulders fall from hills on Gangotri national highway

Representational pic

On Friday, rocks tumbling from the hillside on the Gangotri national highway struck a man and left her missing, according to officials. The incident happened at 12:20 p.m. and injured twelve more people, including four labourers who worked for the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), they stated. According to the officials, the injured were admitted to the district hospital in Uttarkashi as well as the basic healthcare institution in Harshil. They said that two of them were flown in by helicopter to AIIMS, Rishikesh, after suffering significant injuries.

Officials reported that the missing lady labourer was recognised as Kamla Devi and that the deceased, who passed away on the spot, was identified as Akhil Singh (18), a resident of Sainj village in the Bhatwari area of the district. Following notification, the Disaster Management Department's Quick Response Team, the police, and members of the SDRF and NDRF arrived at the location to start the relief and rescue efforts.

According to the officials, the event caused damage to a BRO vehicle that was working on building a wall on the lower side of the road. The tumbling rocks also caused damage to a bike, a private Bolero car, a JCB equipment, a Maruti 800 car, and a water truck, they claimed. People have been instructed to move their cars off both sides of the national highway since boulders are still occasionally falling from the nearby hills.

As to the reports from PTI, among the injured are seven members of two households and four labourers. According to the officials, one family was from Kalsi in the Dehradun district, and its members were Subhash Voniyal (40), his wife Bina (38) and their kids Himanshu (16) and Divyanshu (18). They claimed that the other family, from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, has been named Meera (35), along with her daughters Vishakha and Radha, who were also injured in the accident. They also mentioned Roshan Singh, 18, as another injured party.

(With Inputs from PTI)