Himachal Pradesh: 6 killed after tourist vehicle plunges into gorge in Chamba

Six people, including five tourists from Gujarat, were killed and four others seriously injured after a tourist vehicle plunged into a deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district during the early hours of Monday, police said.

The accident occurred near Kakira when a Toyota Innova carrying 10 passengers was travelling from Manali to Dalhousie. Police said the vehicle was overloaded at the time of the accident.

According to officials, the impact of the fall was severe, leaving parts of the vehicle scattered across the accident site and complicating rescue operations carried out by police and emergency teams.

The deceased were identified as Lalit Bhai Phatnani, his wife Mamta Phatnani, Priyank Kanhaiya Lal, his wife Kajal, their son Diyansh, and the driver Jaswant, a resident of Jogindernagar in Mandi district.

Police said preliminary accounts from injured passengers suggested that the driver may have lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a sharp curve on the mountainous road. However, the exact cause of the accident is yet to be established.

The four injured passengers were initially rescued from the gorge and later referred to Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College at Tanda in Kangra district for treatment.

Police have registered a case and launched an investigation into the circumstances leading to the accident.