india

Updated: Mar 10, 2020 22:52 IST

Two people from West Bengal, including a girl, and a local driver died and seven others were injured when an SUV carrying the tourists fell in a river after being hit by a boulder in East Sikkim district on Tuesday afternoon.

The dead tourists were identified as Jharna Saha, 54, 13-year-old Priya Ghosh and the driver as Tularam Chhetri.

“Two tourists from West Bengal and the driver died when the vehicle was hit by a rolling boulder in the Rongli police station area,” Hari Chettri, East Sikkim district’s superintendent of police, said.

Police said a group of tourists from North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal were travelling in two cars. The accident happened when they were close to the Lingtam area.

A boulder rolled down the hillside and hit the SUV and the vehicle fell in the river below.

The tourists who died were residents of Taki Road in the Madhya Kalikapur area of Barasat in North 24 Parganas, said a police officer who did not want to be identified.

The second vehicle was also hit by the boulder but its occupants did not suffer serious injuries, the police officer added.