Deceased were returning after performing rituals at Sarthal Devi shrine
Sanjeev K Sharma
JAMMU/KISHTWAR, Dec 6: In a heart wrenching incident, a six month old girl along with her father, mother and one more relative lost their lives after the car they were onboard, skidded off the road on Saturday and landed in a deep gorge, in the mountainous Kishtwar district.
Sources informed that all the four deceased persons were returning from the revered shrine of Mata Sarthal Devi in Kishtwar after paying obeisance.
Follow the Daily Excelsior channel on WhatsApp
“They along with other relatives had reached the shrine yesterday for some ritual and were proceeding back home in Doda today in the ill fated car bearing registration number DL5CE-5634 while their other relatives were travelling on other vehicles,” they said adding: “The car had hardly moved few kilometres from the shrine when it plunged into the gorge.”
Sources further informed that the ill fated car took Sarthal-Joshana road after someone told the driver that it was a shorter route.
Click here to watch video
Eyewitnesses informed that immediately after the accident, the passersby and some locals of the area rushed to the spot and started a rescue operation.
They were soon joined by cops led by DySP HQ Kishtwar, Dr. Ishan Gupta and volunteers of some NGOs.
On retrieving the injured, the rescuers found that three of them had died on the spot.
However, an injured lady died after sometime during treatment at District Hospital Kishtwar.
The deceased have been identified as Jyoti Devi, 30, wife of Ranjeet Singh, resident of Gaiei, Dessa, Doda; Ranjeet Singh, 35, son of Puran Chand, resident of Gaiei, Dessa, Doda and their baby girl of 6 months while the fourth deceased was Simran Thakur, 21, daughter of Om Prakash, resident of Mangal Thatha, Dessa, Doda and she was niece of Ranjeet Singh.
Eye witnesses also informed that it seemed the driver of the car had lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a sharp curve after which the vehicle veered off the road and rolled down multiple times along the slope of the mountain before it rested many feet down.
When contacted SSP Kishtwar, Naresh Singh informed that they were conducting investigation to ascertain the reasons behind the accident.
“Most roads in Kishtwar are accident prone so nothing can be said as of now while the road where accident took place today was an interior road and not the main Sarthal road and it also lacked the parapet,” he maintained.
The district Police chief also said that they were establishing check points at various places to control violations, rash driving and drunken driving so that accidents are controlled in the region.
MoS PMO and elected Parliamentarian from the region, Dr Jitendra Singh has expressed shock over the tragic accident.
On social media platform X (earlier Twitter) he posted: “Just now spoke to DC Kishtwar Pankaj Kumar Sharma. Saddened to learn about the tragic road accident on Sarthal road in which four occupants of the vehicle, hailing from Dessa area, unfortunately lost their life. My deepest condolences to the bereaved families.”
Follow our WhatsApp channel
