Tragedy struck on Sunday in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district when a car, carrying at least seven people, met a devastating end beneath a heap of debris caused by a landslide on the Dharchula-Gunji road. The incident unfolded around 1 pm, according to Bhupendra Singh Mahar, the district disaster management officer (DDMO) in Pithoragarh, according to media reports.
A coordinated effort involving teams from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), police, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and the Army swung into action to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble.
However, as nightfall descended and visibility deteriorated, the rescue and search operation had to be temporarily halted. Even with the deployment of two JCB machines, the scale of the landslide made it impossible to extricate any occupants from the car.
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The ill-fated vehicle was en route from Nabi to Dharchula, picking up passengers along the way. Prakash Ronkali, an eyewitness from Rongkong village in Dharchula block, recounted that the doomed Bolero had been traveling ahead of his vehicle when disaster struck.
