Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag Bus Accident: At least three passengers died and nine were missing after a mini bus carrying pilgrims to Badrinath Dham fell into the Alaknanda river in Gholtir in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag on Thursday morning. Over 10 hours after the incident, the search for the missing was still on.

According to preliminary information, the vehicle was heading uphill from Rudraprayag towards Badrinath when it lost control and fell into the river. Police said some passengers fell out of the vehicle as it rolled down the hillside and were later rescued by the locals.

“The injured were immediately sent to the district hospital in Rudraprayag. The vehicle, a 31-seater bus, was carrying 20 people, including the driver. The passengers were from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra,” said an officer.

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) initiated a rescue operation around 8 am after being informed of the accident.

The deceased have been identified as Gauri Soni (41), and Vishal Soni (42), residents of Madhya Pradesh, and Dreamy, a 17-year-old from Gujarat.

Those missing have been identified as Lalit Kumar Soni (48), Sushila Soni, (77), Sanjay Soni (55), Chetna Soni (52), and Ravi Bhavsar (28) from Rajasthan; Mauli Soni (19), Mayuri (24), and Cheshta (12) from Gujarat; and Katta Ranjana Ashok (54), from Thane in Maharashtra.

District disaster management officer, Nandan Singh Rajwar, said the information was received around 7.25 am on Thursday morning. “We activated all response teams such as ITBP, Army, police, fire, SDRF, and DDRF. The vehicle was 250 metres below the road and a few passengers had fallen off, three of whom needing specialised medical care had to be sent to Srinagar (Pauri) and AIIMS (Rishikesh),” he added.

Meanwhile, an FIR has been registered by the police to investigate the exact cause of the accident. Rudraprayag SP Akshay Pralhad Konde siad the eight injured people were thrown out of the bus at the time of the incident and were rescued. “A case has been registered at Kotwali Rudraprayag under sections 125, 106, and 281 of BNS,” he said.