Six police jawans were injured after the mini-truck they were travelling in fell into a gorge at Konkadasa village in the foothills of Dalma under Bodam police station area in Patamda, some 40km from the steel city on Saturday 9am.

The jawans, part of the East Singhbhum district armed police, were on their way to Konkadasa village route to sanitise the rebel-hit area when the mishap took place.

According to the police, the vehicle was negotiating a hilly terrain on a narrow road when a bike came in front at a sharp turning. The mini-truck driver took an abrupt turn to save the biker and failed to control his own vehicle which fell into the 80-foot-deep gorge.

One of the injured jawans informed the Bodam police, some 15km from the mishap site. A police party reached the spot within 30 minutes to rescued the jawans who were then rushed to Tata Main Hospital.

Rural SP Piyush Pandey said that one of the injured, Akaash Mahto, 32, was serious. “Mahto, one of the jawans who is also the driver of the police vehicle, has sustained head injuries. He is serious. The rest, though injured, are out of danger,” the rural SP said.

He added that the East Singhbhum district unit of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) was scheduled to hold a medical check-up camp at Konkadasa on Saturday.

“Konkadasa being a red zone, we were supposed to provide security cover. The police jawans that met with the mishap were sanitising the route through which the DLSA team was supposed to cross,” said Pandey. “The event was held as scheduled.”

Advocate B.K. Lal, secretary of the DLSA’s East Singhbhum unit, said they organised a medical camp where around 100 villagers turned up between 11am and 2pm.

“We also distributed food- grains and clothes to several poor residents of Konkadasa village. Some villagers are so poor and helpless in the rebel zone that they pass their nights in huts made on the branches of trees,” Lal told The Telegraph.