india

Updated: Feb 25, 2019 12:11 IST

Three people, including a woman, from the same family were killed and five others injured early on Monday when the multi-utility vehicle they were travelling in fell into a 150-metre deep ditch in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district, officials said.

The dead have been identified as Maheshwari Devi, 50, Vinod Singh Rawat, 50, and 36-year-old Arvind Singh Rawat - all resident of Chourkhanda village of the district. Arvind was the head of the village.

They were returning from a family function in Delhi, when the accident took place near Kotdwar town at around 5:30am, State Disaster Response Force officials said. SDRF official Praveen Alok said there were eight people, including the driver, in the vehicle.

“There were seven people of the same family hailing from Chourkhanda village of Pauri. They had gone to Delhi in the rented vehicle for a family function. On Monday morning, they were returning home when on the way near Dugadda area of Kotdwar town, the driver lost control over the vehicle and it fell in the ditch about 150m deep,” Alok said.

He said SDRF received the information about the accident from the local fire station at around 6am. A team of nine SDRF personnel were rushed to the spot for the rescue operation, he said.

“The three deceased had died on the spot while the five others including the driver who were injured, have been rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.”

Alok said an initial investigation shows that the driver must have dosed off on the wheel, which could have led to the accident.

“However, the actual reasons could be ascertained after speaking to the injured and as the investigation progresses.”