Tinsukia/Itanagar (Assam): At least 18 people from Assam's Tinsukia district were killed, and three others are missing as a truck carrying them fell into a deep gorge in a remote and difficult terrain in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, PTI reported, citing officials' account.
The accident took place on Hayuliang-Chaglagam Road in Anjaw district in the eastern part of the hill state on December 8 when the truck was carrying 22 labourers, Defence PRO Lt Col Mahender Rawat said, citing the lone survivor's version.
Arunachal Pradesh Disaster Management Secretary Dani Salu said an NDRF team reached an area about 10 km from Hayuliang on Thursday evening and would begin operations to retrieve the bodies on Friday if weather permits.
The site, approximately 12 km from Chaglagam, lies in difficult terrain with limited connectivity, and the accident had not been reported by any local agency, contractor or civil representative until the survivor's arrival, Rawat said, adding that 18 bodies have been sighted.
The accident appears to have occurred in the evening or night of December 8, around 40 km from Hayuliang towards Chaglagam. However, the district administration received no information about the crash either on December 9 or during the day on December 10, Salu said.
“Around the evening of December 10, one of the survivors managed to climb out of the gorge and reach a nearby Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) labour camp, where he was given immediate medical aid,” he said in a statement.
The BRTF authorities subsequently alerted the district's deputy commissioner.
But, due to the late hour, extremely treacherous terrain, and unreliable weather, a rescue attempt that night was deemed unsafe. Requisition to the NDRF was sent immediately, Salu said.