Uttarakhand: Two killed, 10 missing as bus falls into Alakananda river in Rudraprayag

At least two people were killed, eight injured and ten others were reported missing when a vehicle carrying pilgrims fell into the Alaknanda river here on Thursday (June 26), police said.

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The vehicle - a tempo traveller - met with the accident near the Gholthir village on the Badrinath National Highway between Rudraprayag and Gauchar, they said.

Relief and rescue teams have reached the spot. Two bodies have been recovered, one near the accident site and the other from the river near Rudraprayag, Satyendra Singh Bhandari, a member of the Red Cross Society rescue team told PTI. Seven people, including three women and two children, were injured in the accident while ten others went missing, he said, adding that the injured have been hospitalised.

There were 20 people, including the driver, on board the vehicle when it fell into the river, Bhandari added. The tempo traveller is said to have been going towards the Badrinath Dham when the accident occurred at around 7.30 am, he said quoting the injured.

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The pilgrims had come on Uttarakhand's Char Dham Yatra from Udaipur in Rajasthan.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami has tweeted, “The news of a tempo traveller falling into a river in Rudraprayag district is deeply tragic. Relief and rescue operations are being conducted on a war footing by SDRF and other rescue teams. I am in constant touch with the local administration regarding this matter. I pray to God for everyone's safety."

(With agency inputs)