Six young men who were out for a picnic have been killed after their sport utility vehicle (suv) plunged 400 feet into a gorge at Tamhini Ghat in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, police reported on Thursday.
According to the police, the incident is believed to have occurred in the early hours of Tuesday, but they were only alerted to the situation on Thursday morning.
The vehicle was eventually traced with the aid of a drone camera.
What led to accident?
The victims, aged between 18 and 22 years, had departed from Pune in a Thar SUV late on Monday evening, the police confirmed.
Tamhini Ghat, a scenic mountain road linking the Raigad and Pune districts, is a popular destination for outings.
The parents of some of the men contacted the police after losing contact with them since Tuesday morning. Police traced their mobile phone locations to Tamhini Ghat, and personnel from Mangaon police station commenced a search operation on Thursday morning.
After discovering a damaged safety barrier along a curve on the road, the police deployed a drone and found the SUV stuck in a tree in the valley. There were no eyewitnesses, but it is suspected that the driver lost control of the vehicle at that juncture, leading to the accident.
A rescue team comprising Raigad Police and local volunteers recovered the bodies on Thursday afternoon. All the victims were identified.
Their bodies were sent to a government hospital and will be handed over to their relatives following post-mortem examinations, the police stated.
UP news: 1 killed, 4 injured as car plunges into river in Bareilly
A 20-year-old man died while four others sustained serious injuries after the car they were travelling in broke through the railing of a bridge in Bareilly and plunged nearly 20 feet into the Bahgul River, police said on November 14.
The incident took place under Sheeshgarh police station limits in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district when the group was travelling from Kheda Sarai village to Manpur to collect goods.
The driver allegedly lost control while crossing the Bahgul river bridge, causing the sedan vehicle to crash into the railing before falling into the river beneath, Additional Superintendent of Police (North) Mukesh Chandra Mishra said.
Villagers and police personnel pulled out the victims from the river. They were rushed to a nearby hospital, where one of them succumbed to injuries during treatment, he said.
The deceased has been identified as Adil. Guddu (28), Qasim (25), Salman (21) and Farman (20), all residents of Kheda Sarai village, sustained serious injuries and are undergoing treatment, he added.
