A pickup truck lost control and fell into the Ganges River on the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway near Devprayag early Friday morning. The accident occurred around 5 a.m. near Childang. The pickup was reportedly traveling from Rishikesh to Srinagar.
Upon receiving the information, local police and SDRF teams arrived at the scene and launched a search and rescue operation. According to Devprayag police, the pickup’s number is UK 11 CA 2034 and it was carrying two young men who were heading towards Karnaprayag with vegetables.
As the pickup reached near Sainik Hotel, the driver lost control at a sharp turn and the vehicle fell straight into the river Ganga.
Had left Haridwar with vegetables
CCTV footage from before the accident has also emerged. The footage shows the pickup traveling on the highway around 4 a.m. Another video shows the vehicle suddenly losing control at a sharp turn and falling into the river. Locals have suspected there were more people in the vehicle, although police have confirmed only two people were on board.
According to police, the two youths in the pickup have been identified as Aman Negi (28 years old), a resident of village Paleti, Post Karnaprayag, Chamoli district, and Ayan (19 years old), a resident of village Rokheri, Najibabad police station, Bijnor district. They had left with vegetables from the Haridwar/Najibabad area.
The phone was found during a search operation.
During the search operation, a mobile phone was recovered near the scene, which the family confirmed belonged to Ayan. The family has been informed of the incident.
Despite the strong current of the Ganges River, police, SDRF, and diving teams are continuing the search on a war footing. As of this writing, no trace of the vehicle or the missing youth has been found. According to the police, the rescue operation is ongoing.