Two persons were killed and three went missing when a jeep travelling from Siliguri to Gangtok hurtled into the Teesta after being hit by a falling boulder at Likhubir on NH 31A.
Six persons were injured in the accident.
The 11 people travelling in the jeep included at least one couple from Calcutta (husband missing, wife injured).
Police said the Mahindra Maxx swerved out of the road and fell into the river 50ft below around 12.30pm after a loose boulder from the mountainside fell on the roof of the vehicle. The stretch of the highway at Likhubir, located around 45km from Siliguri and a landslide-prone zone, has no parapet.
Owners and workers of rafting units located in the nearby areas of Chitre and Malli helped rescue the injured.
The vehicle, too, was later hauled out of the river with the help of a crane.
Kalimpong additional superintendent of police Humayun Kabir said the dead have been identified as Anil Subba (32), the driver of the jeep from Bortuk, Sikkim, and P. Varghavi Amma (50), a retired schoolteacher of south Indian origin from Rumtek in Sikkim. Varghavi’s son, Ramesh Acharya, is among the three missing, added Kabir. The other two are Mehul Desai (32), an employee of the Salt Lake branch of ICICI Bank in Calcutta, and an unidentified person.
Mehul’s wife Mridula (26) has been admitted to Anandalok Nursing Home in Siliguri with a leg injury. Her condition is stable, said a doctor there. The Desais were planning to celebrate their marriage anniversary tomorrow by taking a trip to the hills.
Originally from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Mehul and Mridula had arrived in Calcutta six months ago and were living as tenants on the first floor of a multi-storeyed building at 126 Barada Avenue in Garia. Moushumi Mukherjee, who lives in the same building with her husband Sudip, received a call from Mridula around 1pm today to be told about the accident. Moushumi and Sudip will go to Siliguri by flight tomorrow to help Mridula locate Mehul.
The injured also include Mamata Magar (29) from Rumtek who was accompanying Varghavi, Suman Kumar Saha (23), a resident of Nehru Avenue, C Zone, Durgapur, and Jiban Modak (27) a carpenter from 2 Number Colony in Siliguri Junction. All three have critical head injuries, said doctors at North Medical College and Hospital, where they are undergoing treatment.
Another couple, Bhavesh and Kheti Narsana, is also being treated at Anandalok for head injuries. Krishna Ghosh, a medical dealer from Siliguri, said he had got a call from a customer in Calcutta who said he was a relative of the Narsanas and asked Ghosh to take care of them. Ghosh added that he did not know where the couple was from.
Source: The Telegraph
Six persons were injured in the accident.The 11 people travelling in the jeep included at least one couple from Calcutta (husband missing, wife injured).
Police said the Mahindra Maxx swerved out of the road and fell into the river 50ft below around 12.30pm after a loose boulder from the mountainside fell on the roof of the vehicle. The stretch of the highway at Likhubir, located around 45km from Siliguri and a landslide-prone zone, has no parapet.
Owners and workers of rafting units located in the nearby areas of Chitre and Malli helped rescue the injured.
The vehicle, too, was later hauled out of the river with the help of a crane.
Kalimpong additional superintendent of police Humayun Kabir said the dead have been identified as Anil Subba (32), the driver of the jeep from Bortuk, Sikkim, and P. Varghavi Amma (50), a retired schoolteacher of south Indian origin from Rumtek in Sikkim. Varghavi’s son, Ramesh Acharya, is among the three missing, added Kabir. The other two are Mehul Desai (32), an employee of the Salt Lake branch of ICICI Bank in Calcutta, and an unidentified person.
Mehul’s wife Mridula (26) has been admitted to Anandalok Nursing Home in Siliguri with a leg injury. Her condition is stable, said a doctor there. The Desais were planning to celebrate their marriage anniversary tomorrow by taking a trip to the hills.
Originally from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Mehul and Mridula had arrived in Calcutta six months ago and were living as tenants on the first floor of a multi-storeyed building at 126 Barada Avenue in Garia. Moushumi Mukherjee, who lives in the same building with her husband Sudip, received a call from Mridula around 1pm today to be told about the accident. Moushumi and Sudip will go to Siliguri by flight tomorrow to help Mridula locate Mehul.
The injured also include Mamata Magar (29) from Rumtek who was accompanying Varghavi, Suman Kumar Saha (23), a resident of Nehru Avenue, C Zone, Durgapur, and Jiban Modak (27) a carpenter from 2 Number Colony in Siliguri Junction. All three have critical head injuries, said doctors at North Medical College and Hospital, where they are undergoing treatment.
Another couple, Bhavesh and Kheti Narsana, is also being treated at Anandalok for head injuries. Krishna Ghosh, a medical dealer from Siliguri, said he had got a call from a customer in Calcutta who said he was a relative of the Narsanas and asked Ghosh to take care of them. Ghosh added that he did not know where the couple was from.
Source: The Telegraph
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