By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 1 Sep: Two young students, including a 19-year-old MBBS student, were killed after two cars were swept away by a strong current at a rainwater stream near Kandoli-Bidhouli bridge in the Prem Nagar area late last night. Three other occupants of the vehicles were rescued by a joint team of Dehradun Police, SDRF and Fire Service personnel after a challenging overnight operation.
The incident occurred around 11.30 pm last night near the Lower Kandoli-Poundha Road, when the two vehicles attempted to cross a causeway (Rapta) near Kandoli bridge amid heavy rainfall. According to the police, the occupants apparently could not assess the intensity of the water flow and both vehicles were swept away.
Police said one of the vehicles was a Scorpio-N bearing registration number HR 08 AG 8743, carrying two young men. One of them, 22-year-old Sambhav, a resident of Haryana, was rescued safely, while his companion Akshay, 21, a resident of Jaipur, Rajasthan, died in the incident. His body was recovered from the vehicle during the rescue operation.
The second vehicle, a Hyundai Creta bearing registration number RJ13 CE 5641, had three occupants—a youth and two young women. The rescue teams managed to save 22-year-old Ansh Baveja, son of Gulshan Kumar and a resident of Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, and 18-year-old Sehaj Preeti Kaur, a BBA LLB student. Kaur was found injured during the search and rescue operation and was handed over to the police for further medical care. The body of the third occupant, 19-year-old Kanan Sachdeva, daughter of Vikas Sachdeva and a resident of Pilibanga in Hanumangarh, Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, was subsequently recovered from the water. She was an MBBS student at a university in Sri Ganganagar.
The incident was reported to the Prem Nagar police control room during the night, following which a police team equipped with disaster-response equipment rushed to the spot and alerted the SDRF and Fire Service. SDRF personnel from Dakpatthar, along with police and Fire Service teams, conducted the rescue and search operation despite darkness, heavy rain and the strong water current. Reports indicate that one of the survivors was found around two kilometres downstream from the accident site.
The bodies of the two deceased persons were taken to Coronation Hospital for necessary legal formalities and post-mortem examination, while their families were informed about the tragedy. Initial reports from some agencies had suggested that only one vehicle was involved, but subsequent local reports and the police account established that two vehicles had been swept away, with five occupants in all and two fatalities.
It may be reminded here that the tragedy came amid exceptionally heavy rainfall in Dehradun and other parts of Uttarakhand. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had warned of thunderstorms, lightning and heavy to very heavy rainfall in Dehradun on 1 September with moderate to heavy rainfall also forecast for the following days. The heavy overnight rain has also led to a sharp rise in water levels of rivers and streams in the region, prompting authorities to closely monitor vulnerable locations. The authorities have repeatedly advised residents and motorists not to attempt crossing such stretches or causeways when water is flowing over the road, as the depth and force of the current can increase suddenly but several people tend to ignore such warnings.
