- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
IN a horrific incident, nine people, most of them tourists, were killed when the car they were travelling in was swept off a bridge by an overflowing river following heavy rains, police said. One was rescued alive.
The tragedy took place in Ramnagar in Nainital in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand where the Dhela river is in spate because of the downpour.
The incident took place around 5.45 am local time, Pankaj Bhatt, a top police officer said, adding the ill-fated vehicle was returning to the state of Punjab from where it belonged.
#BreakingNews
Shocking rain , now 9 people died due to car got washed away in Uttarakhand!! ? #Uttarakhand #uttarakhandnews #Accident #nainital pic.twitter.com/pNQkd5Y8qx— MAHREEN KHAN (@MAHREENKHAN786) July 8, 2022
Bodies of the drowned tourists were recovered while Nazia, a 22-year-old resident of Corbett Colony in Uttarakhand, was sent to hospital for treatment.
The deceased included six women and three men. They were identified as Ashia of Corbett Colony, Ramnagar; Kavita and Jahnvi of Patiala, Punjab; Sangeeta Tamang of New Delhi; Pinky of Noida, Uttar Pradesh; Hina of Bhajanpura, Delhi; Amandeep Singh of Bhawanigarh, Punjab; and Pawan and Iqbal of Patiala.
The bridge from where the car was swept down the river is low and accident-prone. The river often flows over it when there is a surge in its waters.
Eyewitnesses said the driver of the vehicle attempted to cross the bridge at a high speed, ignoring warnings from onlookers who asked him to stop.
The tourists were staying at the Small Town Homestay and Restaurant in Dhela and had started from there around 5 am, the police officer said.
The car overturned after being swept off by the river and rescuers had to struggle for hours to retrieve the bodies, he said.
