Four Killed As Boulders Tumbling Downhill Crush Vehicles In Uttarakhand

Four people were killed and seven others injured in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi when boulders tumbling down the hills amid heavy rain crushed three vehicles.

The accident took place late yesterday evening when a group of pilgrims were returning to Madhya Pradesh after a pilgrimage at Gangotri in Uttarakhand. As the three vehicles, with about 30 occupants, were moving on the road next to the hill, boulders came tumbling down and landed on the vehicles.

Among the dead is a woman and one of those injured is in a critical condition, according to reports. All the victims, it is learnt, were from Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

The mangled remains of vehicles narrate the scale of the accident. One side of a small bus was completely crushed. The two other smaller vehicles, too, suffered very heavy damage.

Uttarakhand is the latest to join the list of north India states severely hit by monsoon fury. The heavy rains have triggered landslides in many parts of the hill states and washed away bridges.

Schools in state capital Dehradun have been asked to stay shut till weather improves.

In the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, 30 people have been killed in rain-related incidents. Visuals of bridges being swept away and vehicles swallowed by the gushing waters have captured the scale of rain rampage in the state.