Seven tourists, including three students from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IIT BHU) in Varanasi, died and 10 others were injured on Sunday night after a tempo plunged down a canyon in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district, according to officials. According to reports, the incident happened at about 8:30 p.m. near Ghiyaghi in the Banjar area. They added that five visitors perished there, and two more passed away from their wounds later in the hospital.
Gurdev Sharma, the superintendent of police in Kullu, identified the deceased as Saurabh, Priyanka Gupta, Kiran, a resident of Delhi, Rishab Raj, and the Uttar Pradesh residents Anshika Jain, Aditya, and Ananmaya. Rahul Goswami, Kshitija Agarwal, Priyapal, Ishan Gupta from Haryana, driver Ajay Chauhan, Abhinav Singh, Nishtha Badoni from Uttar Pradesh, Rushav from New Delhi, Lakshaya from Rajasthan, and Jai Aggarwal from Madhya Pradesh were among the injured, he claimed.
At 12:45 a.m. on Monday, BJP MLA from Banjar Surender Shourie broadcast a video on Facebook informing people of the accident that happened in his Assembly district. According to the MLA, the injured were initially transported to Banjar Hospital, where they were given first aid before being sent for further care to Kullu Regional Hospital. The MLA commended the district administration and the villagers of Banjar for carrying out the rescue effort despite the darkness. Anurag Thakur, a union minister from the state, and Jai Ram Thakur, the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, both expressed their sorrow over the tragedy. “I was shocked to learn that seven persons had died in a car accident in Kullu. May God give peace to the departed souls and strength to the bereaved families. Wishing a speedy recovery to the injured,” the chief minister said in a tweet in Hindi.
“The accident in Kullu near Ghiyagi is terribly tragic. My sympathies go out to the mourning families. I hope the injured person recovers quickly. May God grant the dead souls rest, “The Union minister and Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, representative Anurag Thakur tweeted in Hindi.
