ANAND OBEROI
GANGTOK, 16 June: A 33 year old tourist from Kolkata was killed on the spot when the vehicle he was travelling in along with 10 others, including the driver, veered out of control and plunged 150 feet off the road between Serathang and Baba Mandir here beyond Tsomgo this afternoon at 2:10 p.m.
Speaking to NOW! S.I. Choley Bhutia, in-charge of Serathang Police Out-Post, who evacuated the injured tourists to STNM Hospital, informed that the Mahindra Maxx taxi being driven by one Satan Kumar Darjee lost control and skidded off the road near the Serathang Helipad killing Sudip Das on the spot and grievously injuring two passengers. Rest of the passengers, although injured, are not in any immediate danger, it is informed.
Among the 10 injured today are two ladies and a child [out of danger and discharged from the hospital], and the rest are all males aged between 30-58 years.
The passengers, it is informed, are still in shock and traumatised by the mishap and hence the investigating agencies are not pressing them to hard to understand what went wrong. From what the cops have gathered so far, it appears that the vehicle was travelling at a very high speed and took the sharp bend a short distance out of Sherathang at reckless speed. Unfortunately, another vehicle was approaching from the other side at the time and the driver lost control when he tried to avoid a head-on collision.
The ill-fated vehicle was ferrying tourists to Baba Mandir. It may be recalled that the unreliability of the Nathula road had forced stakeholders to recently resolve that all vehicles begin their return journey from Nathula/ Baba Mandir latest by 3 p.m. and has been officially notified so. It is possible that the driver was speeding to make it to Baba Mandir before the deadline to return.
The Sherathang OP in-charge informs that as soon as news reached the OP, a police team was rushed to the site of the accident. Even though the vehicle had taken a substantial tumble, the spot was thankfully accessible. The police team alongwith the officers and personnel of the army detachment posted there, residents of the area and JN Road taxi drivers evacuated all the passengers to the road within an hour. The injured passengers received first aid at the Army hospital at Sherathang and were then brought down to STNM Hospital by the Serathang police.
By 8 p.m., seven of the passengers had been discharged. Still under medical attention are one tourist whose condition is still grievous and the driver who is nursing a fractured hand and bruises on his head and body.
“Over-speeding is the obvious reason behind the accident,” said Mr. Tashi [name changed on request] while speaking to NOW! at the hospital. He was was part of the rescue team which evacuated the injured tourists.
GANGTOK, 16 June: A 33 year old tourist from Kolkata was killed on the spot when the vehicle he was travelling in along with 10 others, including the driver, veered out of control and plunged 150 feet off the road between Serathang and Baba Mandir here beyond Tsomgo this afternoon at 2:10 p.m.
Speaking to NOW! S.I. Choley Bhutia, in-charge of Serathang Police Out-Post, who evacuated the injured tourists to STNM Hospital, informed that the Mahindra Maxx taxi being driven by one Satan Kumar Darjee lost control and skidded off the road near the Serathang Helipad killing Sudip Das on the spot and grievously injuring two passengers. Rest of the passengers, although injured, are not in any immediate danger, it is informed.
Among the 10 injured today are two ladies and a child [out of danger and discharged from the hospital], and the rest are all males aged between 30-58 years.
The passengers, it is informed, are still in shock and traumatised by the mishap and hence the investigating agencies are not pressing them to hard to understand what went wrong. From what the cops have gathered so far, it appears that the vehicle was travelling at a very high speed and took the sharp bend a short distance out of Sherathang at reckless speed. Unfortunately, another vehicle was approaching from the other side at the time and the driver lost control when he tried to avoid a head-on collision.
The ill-fated vehicle was ferrying tourists to Baba Mandir. It may be recalled that the unreliability of the Nathula road had forced stakeholders to recently resolve that all vehicles begin their return journey from Nathula/ Baba Mandir latest by 3 p.m. and has been officially notified so. It is possible that the driver was speeding to make it to Baba Mandir before the deadline to return.
The Sherathang OP in-charge informs that as soon as news reached the OP, a police team was rushed to the site of the accident. Even though the vehicle had taken a substantial tumble, the spot was thankfully accessible. The police team alongwith the officers and personnel of the army detachment posted there, residents of the area and JN Road taxi drivers evacuated all the passengers to the road within an hour. The injured passengers received first aid at the Army hospital at Sherathang and were then brought down to STNM Hospital by the Serathang police.
By 8 p.m., seven of the passengers had been discharged. Still under medical attention are one tourist whose condition is still grievous and the driver who is nursing a fractured hand and bruises on his head and body.
“Over-speeding is the obvious reason behind the accident,” said Mr. Tashi [name changed on request] while speaking to NOW! at the hospital. He was was part of the rescue team which evacuated the injured tourists.
as per other newspapers and various narrations it was not a case of rash driving. the driver was giving pass to another vehicle.
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