A case has been registered and investigations are on, he added. (Representational)
Six people were killed and as many sustained injuries when their vehicle fell into a gorge near Sunni in Shimla district on Monday morning, police said.
The mishap took place at Kudharghat, about 35 km from here, when the driver of the ill-fated pickup truck lost control of the vehicle, police said.
Of the 12 occupants, nine were from Kulgam in Jammu and Kashmir, working as labourers in Himachal Pradesh. They were on their way to Mandi from Sunni, police said.
Three of the labourers died on the spot and as many were declared dead by doctors when they were taken to a hospital, police said.
Those injured are undergoing treatment at the Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital (IGMCH), police said.
The deceased were identified as Farid (24), Gulab (43), Sahbir (19), Talib (23), Gulzar (30), and Mustak (30), Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi told PTI.
The injured included Ranjit, who was driving the vehicle, Aslam, Talib Hussain, Akash Kumar, Ajay Thakur, and Manjoor, police said.
A case has been registered and investigations are on, he added.
Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu expressed grief over the deaths and directed the district authorities to provide immediate relief to the next of kin of the deceased and the best possible treatment to the injured, a statement issued here said.
In another incident, a truck crushed four vehicles in Vikasnagar area of Shimla city, however, no casualty was reported.
As many as 110 persons were killed while 401 sustained injuries in 260 accidents from January 1 to November 23, 2023, in Shimla district according to police data.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)