Taxi Plunges 500 Meters Into Gorge Near Himachal's Sach Pass; 8 Feared Dead

Seven tourists from Bengaluru and a local taxi driver are feared dead after their vehicle plunged into a 500-meter-deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district. The accident occurred on the hazardous Bairagarh-Sach Pass-Killar road in the remote Churah subdivision on Friday night.

Because the crash took place in an isolated area with no eyewitnesses, the incident only came to light on Saturday afternoon when local authorities launched a search for the missing vehicle.

The vehicle, a Maruti Ertiga, fell nearly 500 meters down a steep cliffside, making recovery efforts exceptionally difficult. Rescue teams faced steep terrain, poor weather conditions, and a total blackout of mobile connectivity at the crash site.

Mukesh Repaswal, Deputy Commissioner of Chamba, stated that the administration had to rely on satellite communication to coordinate the response. He confirmed that all eight people, including two children, are feared dead and noted that communication was entirely dependent on satellite phones due to the complete lack of mobile signals in the area. Rescue teams faced a grueling process to retrieve the bodies from the deep gorge and bring them up to the roadside.

Investigation and Passenger Details

Officials have cautioned against speculating on the cause of the accident, noting that a formal inquiry will begin only after the recovery operation concludes.

Initial reports indicate that a family from Bengaluru hired the taxi in Dalhousie for a sightseeing trip to see the snowfall at Sach Pass. They reportedly shared the ride with another tourist family. The group departed from Bairagarh around noon on Friday before losing contact.

The individuals reported missing and feared dead include the local taxi driver, Vishwas, from Banikhet in Chamba. The tourists from Bengaluru have been identified as Arvind Chandrakar, his wife Prachi Chandrakar, and their children Darsh, aged 8, and Akshad, aged 11, all residents of Kadugodi. The other passengers from Bengaluru were P G Karthikeyan, his wife Manimala Karthikeyan, and Nandan.

Police stated that while they have compiled these names, formal confirmation will only be released once family members, who have already been notified, arrive to identify the bodies.

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