Four persons, including three women, were killed and another sustained serious injuries after the car they were travelling in skidded off a mountain road and plunged nearly 200 metres into a gorge in the Bharmour subdivision of Chamba district on Saturday.
The accident occurred near Sarni Bridge on the Urei-Samra-Runhkothi link road when the vehicle reportedly went out of control while negotiating a sharp bend and rolled into a deep nullah.
Three occupants died on the spot, while another woman succumbed to her injuries while being shifted to Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Government Medical College, Chamba.
The deceased have been identified as Chatro Devi (70), Basehro Devi (72) and Lata Devi (43), all residents of Urei village, and the driver, Ravikant (32), a resident of Runhkothi village in Bharmour. The lone survivor, Rakesh Kumar (35), also a resident of Runhkothi, sustained serious injuries and is undergoing treatment at Chamba medical college.
According to the police, the five occupants were travelling to attend a religious function in the Samra-Runhkothi area. A police team from Bharmour police station reached the spot soon after receiving information and, with the help of local residents, retrieved the bodies from the gorge.
