Car Falls Into Stream In Himachal After Road Caves In, 3 Killed: Cops

Three people were killed when their car fell into a stream after a portion of a road caved in the Nankneri area here in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday, police said.

In Kangra, 55 people, who were trapped in the Gandhara and Myani areas following an increase in the water level of the Beas, were rescued by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), officials said.

On the accident, police said a stretch of the Neerath-Nankheri-Pandadhar link road caved in leading to the car falling into the stream.

Three bodies have been recovered by police and fire department personnel and locals, they said. The accident was reported to police by other commuters.

The victims were identified as Veer Singh (40), Himmat Singh (28) and Ratan (50) all hailing from Nankheri. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has expressed grief over the accident.

In the Indora sub-division of Kangra district, operations to rescue the 55 people, including children, went on for nine hours, ending around 5 am on Tuesday.

They were stranded due to rise in the water level of the Beas river on Monday night, Deputy Commissioner Nipun Jindal.

The official said as soon as information regarding people being trapped reached the control room, a rescue operation was launched at the local level and the NDRF was informed.

Since the onset of monsoon in Himachal Pradesh, it is being battered by rains and so far, 125 people have died in rain-related incidents and road accidents. The state has suffered losses of Rs 4,691 crore, according to the Himachal Pradesh emergency response centre. As many as 682 roads are still blocked.

The local meteorological office has issued a yellow alert and predicted heavy rains at isolated places in the state for the next four days till July 22.

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