Six people, including four members of a family, died when a huge boulder hit their car in Tissa subdivision in Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district late Thursday night.
According to official reports, an accident occurred around 9:20 pm in the Chanwas area, when the vehicle, hit by the falling boulder, veered off the road and plunged nearly 500 metres into a deep gorge.
Police said locals alerted authorities immediately after the incident. A rescue operation lasting several hours was launched, and the bodies were recovered from the gorge by around 3 am. All the deceased were taken to Teresa Hospital for postmortem, after which the bodies were handed over to their relatives.
The victims have been identified as Rajesh Kumar (40), a government school teacher posted in Banikhet; his wife Hanso (36); their children Aarti (17) and Deepak (15); Rakesh Kumar (44), a villager from Bulwas; and the car’s driver, Hempal (37), a soldier in the Indian Army who came home on leave about 15 days ago. All were residents of Chamba district.
Police said Hempal was driving his Swift car (HP-44-4246) to drop his sister Hanso, brother-in-law Rajesh Kumar, and their children to their native village Bulwas to celebrate Rakshabandhan. Rakesh Kumar joined them en route. The accident occurred barely a kilometre before they reached the village.
Rajesh Kumar’s children studied in Banikhet and were home for school holidays. The sudden tragedy has left the small mountain community in deep shock, with relatives and neighbours mourning the loss of an entire family branch in one night.
Police have registered a case and begun further investigation into the incident, while warning travellers to remain cautious in landslide-prone areas during the monsoon.
During this monsoon season, around 207 people have been killed, nearly 100 in rain-related accidents, including 15 in Chamba district.
