Eight people killed in landslide in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag

DEHRADUN: At least eight people were killed when huge rocks fell on a car and two motorcycles following a landslide near Chandikadhar area of Rudraprayag district on Saturday late evening.
Confirming the incident, Mangesh Ghildiyal, district magistrate of Rudraprayag, told TOI, “Eight persons have died after their vehicles were hit by a landslide. All three vehicles plunged into an almost 500 meter deep gorge after being hit by boulders.We have recovered three bodies and efforts are on to recover rest of the five bodies as well.”
Upon receiving information, a team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local police reached the spot. However, the search and rescue operation was stopped on Saturday night due to constant falling of boulders from the hill.
“The rescue operation was started on Sunday morning and three bodies were identified by the authorities,” said an official of the state emergency operation centre (SEOC).
Ghildiyal said that it was possible that the victims were pilgrims as the car which was hit by a landslide was bearing the registration number of Delhi.
"Exact details would be ascertained once all the bodies are recovered and identified,” the DM added.