At least five died in a road accident late on Monday evening at Khal Paini Kujasu motor road in Karnprayag, Chamoli district.
The accident happened after the driver of the car reportedly lost control of the vehicle causing it to fall off the road into a 200 metre deep gorge.
The accident site is under the jurisdiction of revenue police.
They along with police unit from Pokhri police station and local team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) conducted search and rescue for the victims till early Tuesday morning.
However, by the time the victims were found they were all dead.
The deceased have been identified as Hema Devi (32), Bindu Devi (30), Surendra Singh (72), Nadan Singh (80) and the person who was driving at the time of accident Sohan Singh (42). They all hail from the same village Kujasu.
According to the information provided by local police, the post-mortem examination of the bodies is being conducted to rule out the possibility of the driver being intoxicated.
The site from where the vehicle fell off the road does not have any parapet. Had there been a parapet, the mishap could have been averted.
The road though well constructed has only single lane and at places is dangerously narrow for two vehicles to pass at the same time.
Local officials also stated that they are not ruling out the possibility that the driver might have dozed off or any other aspect.
They are investigating through all angles.
