Five tourists from West Bengal, including three of a family from New Garia on the southern fringes of Kolkata, died after the SUV they were travelling in fell into a gorge in Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garhwal district on Wednesday afternoon.
The driver of the vehicle —a Bolero — died, too.
The tourists were Madan Mohan Bhuniya, 61, wife Jhumur, 59, and their son Nilesh, 23. The family was from Srinagar in New Garia, the police said.
Two other two tourists who died were Pradip Das, 47, from Naihati in North 24-Parganas district, and Debmalya Debnath, 43, from Barrackpore in the same district.
The bodies have been sent for post-mortem.
The five, who had left Kolkata on Monday, had gone to Uttarakhand for trekking.
The vehicle they were travelling in fell into a gorge in Kandisaur sub-district on the Gangotri Highway around 3.30pm, the police said. The car caught fire after it fell and all six victims suffered burns.
The police said they had learnt from some bystanders that the vehicle was travelling towards Uttarkashi from Chamba when the driver lost control. The Bolero rammed into a railing before falling into the gorge. The vehicle caught fire soon after it touched the ground, making it impossible for residents of the area to rescue the tourists.
By the time the tourists were brought out, all had died.
IPL betting racket
The special operation group of Siliguri Metropolitan Police in association with a team of Siliguri police station on Tuesday busted an online betting racket of ongoing Indian Premier League cricket tournament.
Four men have been arrested in this connection from Subhashpally, a prominent residential area of Siliguri, the police said. “The four were allegedly running the racket. Cash, cell phones and a diary have been seized from them,” said an officer.
