Four personnel of the Indian Army died in a road accident in east Sikkim on Thursday.

Sources said the quartet was travelling in an army vehicle to Zuluk from Pedong in the Kalimpong district of Bengal.

As they reached Dalapchand Dara, the driver lost control and the vehicle veered off the road and fell into a gorge. All four died on the spot.

“The vehicle was on its way to Zuluk along the old silk route in the Pakyong district of Sikkim. Suddenly, the vehicle went off the road and plunged into a gorge around 800 feet deep,” said a source.

The accident site is around 68 kilometres far from the state capital of Gangtok.

The deceased have been identified as Pradeep Patel, the driver from Madhya Pradesh, W. Peter, a craftsman and a resident of Manipur, Naik Gursev Singh from Haryana and Subedar K. Thangapandi from Tamil Nadu.

They belonged to a unit based in Binnaguri cantonment of the Indian Army in Jalpaiguri district. After the accident, police and administrative officials from Pakyong reached the spot and recovered the bodies.

“Investigation would be conducted by the army and other agencies to find out what led to the accident,” said a source.