DEHRADUN: A bus carrying Russian tourists plunged into a river in northern India yesterday, killing at least two and injuring eight, a local official said.
The bus was travelling to Gangotri, source of the Ganges, in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand when it veered off the road and into the river below, police superintendent Jagat Ram Jyoti said.
“There were 14 Russian tourists in the bus,” he said. “Two of them died at the spot, their bodies have been recovered.”
Another Russian was missing and the driver’s status was unknown, he added, with a search ongoing for the bus in the water.
Eight others had been taken to a hospital in the state capital Dehradun, while another three were unharmed, he said.
District magistrate Sridhar Babu Adanky blamed “bad road conditions” for the accident which occurred close to remote Harsil village, some 245km from Dehradun. Adanky confirmed rescue operations were under way for those still missing.
The Himalayan region with steep gorges and mountains was devastated last year by floods and landslides triggered by early monsoon rains, leaving some 5,500 people dead or missing.
Mumbai: The centre has decided to order a CBI probe into the death of union minister Gopinath Munde in an road accident in New Delhi on June 3, a top BJP leader said here yesterday.
“Home Minister Rajnath Singh called me this morning (Tuesday) and discussed last week’s accident in which Munde lost his life. Rajnath Singh informed me that the CBI would probe the incident,” Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly Eknath Khadse said in a statement here.
He said Rajnath Singh informed him that the official orders to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would be issued in three-four days. On Monday, a delegation comprising Khadse, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra BJP chief Devendra Fadnavis and others met Rajnath Singh in the national capital seeking a CBI probe into Munde’s death.
Thousands of supporters and BJP activists had vociferously demanded a CBI probe into his death during Munde’s funeral in his home district Beed last week.
Later, several top political leaders, including Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Republican Party of India (RPI) chief Ramdas Athawale and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar also endorsed the demand.
Agencies
