Rudraprayag Accident Inside Story: As soon as the siren sounded in Rudraprayag after the accident near Rantoli on the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway, panic spread among the people. Taking information from each other, people ran towards the incident spot and after reaching the spot, started rescuing the injured. Everyone was shocked as soon as the news of the tragic accident was received at 11.30 am on Saturday. People left for the incident spot by taking lift from their vehicles and other people. After reaching there, everyone quickly got down from the footpath leading towards the river and came to the incident spot. Seeing the scene there, everyone’s soul trembled.
Within 15 to 20 minutes of the incident, SDRF, DDRF, Police, Water Police personnel along with youth social worker Shailendra Goswami, outgoing councilor Laxman Kapravan, former BJP district president Dinesh Uniyal, Vikas Dimri, junior chief Shashi Negi, Roshan Jha and other citizens reached the spot and started rescue operations.
The injured were brought to the road on stretchers after climbing a steep slope of about 250 meters from the river. Roshan Jha said that the scene of the incident was so horrific that it cannot be described. There were dead bodies lying here and there on the river bank.
Those who were injured were crying out in pain. Many people were unconscious and the injured were in so much pain that they were unable to even ask for help. Shailendra Bharti says, the horror of the accident can be gauged just by looking at the condition of the vehicle.
Tempo traveler falls into river, 14 dead, 12 injured
A tragic accident took place at Rantoli near Rudraprayag on the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway. Here a tempo traveler lost control and broke the roadside parapet and fell 250 meters down into the Alaknanda river. 14 people died in this accident, out of which 10 people died on the spot. Two died in the District Hospital Rudraprayag and two died in AIIMS Rishikesh.