5 killed in Shimla as taxi falls into 2,000ft gorge

SHIMLA: Five youths from Solan were killed when the taxi in which they were traveling rolled 2,000 ft down into a gorge at Kashmiri Crusher, 145 km from here on Hindustan-Tibet National Highway on Tuesday.
Anil (18), Sudhir (21), Kuldeep (20), Jagdish (18) and driver Sandeep (21) were killed when Sandeep applied reverse gear sending the vehicle out of control and plunged into the 2,000 ft deep gorge near Jhakri.
They, along with five others in another vehicle, were on their way to Bhima Kali Temple at Sarahan and had halted for night at Jhakri, police sources said.
The occupants of the other taxi saw the vehicle rolling down and informed the police. Rescue teams were rushed to the spot and all the bodies were recovered and handed over to the relatives after post mortem, the sources said.
The district administration immediately released a relief of Rs 10,000 to the kin of the deceased.