At least eight people died in a landslide incident at Chandikadhar on the Kedarnath-Gaurikund Highway on the weekend. Personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), along with local police, have recovered bodies of all the victims. According to the information provided by SDRF, late on Saturday night, they received information that, two motorbikes and a four wheeler had been hit by a boulder, after which they fell into a 400 metre deep gorge.

Three of the victims were taken to the nearest primary medical facility, where the doctors declared them dead. The search for other victims was resumed on Sunday morning, after which bodies of other victims were recovered.

The deceased found on Saturday night have been identified as Surjeet Singh (26) resident of Rishikesh, Ravi (25) resident of Rishikesh and Harsheed (35) resident of Itava. The bodies recovered on Sunday have been identified as Veeru Lal (42) resident of Guptkashi, Jaipal (54) resident of Sonipat, Mohit Tyagi (21) resident of Ghaziabad, Vishal Tyagi (20) resident of Ghaziabad and Uma Joshi (53) resident of Agastyamuni Rudraprayag.

Rudraprayag District Magistrate Mangesh Ghildiyal said, “It is yet not certain that how many people were there in the car and how many were riding on the motorbikes, but we have recovered eight bodies. The SDRF unit also conducted a search for the other possible victims around the area, just to be sure.

The incident can be termed as a landslide incident as it was one of the big boulders which hit the vehicles, pushing them into the gorge.

As no road cutting work was happening in the area, the cause of this incident is a matter of investigation.

Taking that into cognisance a mgisterial probe has been ordered in the case which will be conducted by Ukhimath sub-divisional magistrate.”

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat expressed deep grief at the mishap and announced Rs two lakh for each of the bereaved families.

The Chief Minister has also directed officials concerned to conduct a magisterial inquiry