This Article is From Apr 21, 2018

7 Killed As Car Rolls Down A Gorge Near Delhi. Child Disengaged Hand Brake

A child, who was sitting in the front, accidentally disengaged the hand brake of the SUV, which caused the SUV to roll down the sloped road.

7 Killed As Car Rolls Down A Gorge Near Delhi. Child Disengaged Hand Brake

Four women and a child are among the dead.

Highlights

  • 12 people were headed for a wedding in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district
  • Child sitting in front of the wedding party's SUV disengaged hand brake
  • The SUV rolled down a sloped road and fell into a gorge, said survivors
Ghaziabad: For 55-year-old Om Prakash Rastogi, it was meant to be one of the happiest days of his life. He was headed, along with 11 others, for his son's wedding in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district, which neighbours the national capital.

Instead, in a freak accident, Om Prakash lost his life along with six others. The Tata Sumo the wedding party was travelling in, rolled down a gorge in Ghaziabad's Vijay Nagar, near National Highway-24. 

Four women and a child are among the dead. 

The five other occupants in the car too received injuries and are said to be critical.

Survivors say the driver of the Tata Sumo had parked the car at the side of the road, next to a gorge, when he got out of the vehicle. 

A child, who was sitting in the front, accidentally disengaged the hand brake of the SUV, which caused the SUV to roll down the sloped road of the National Highway, and fall into the gorge, the survivors said.

"At around 8:30 pm, these people were coming from Bareilly. The baraat (wedding procession) was to come to my place. Chaos ensued as the car fell into the gorge. I came out of the home rushing and saw the car had drowned in the water. I jumped in the water to help them when I saw some women screaming for help. Most of them were in a serious condition," an eyewitness Satish Kumar told ANI.

"The police came at around 10:30 pm," he added. 

"It was the wedding of the son of Om Prakash Rastogi, who is a resident of Rampur. The wedding was in Khoda and the baraat had already gone there. Some women and children took the Tata Sumo to go to the wedding. The car fell in the gorge and people around tried to save them. They were taken to a nearby hospital," a police officer told ANI.  

The driver has since gone missing, and a case has been filed against him, a police officer said.

With inputs from IANS
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