Army colonel, wife die after landslide on Badrinath highway

DEHRADUN: A senior Army officer and his wife were killed after their car was hit by boulders on Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway on Sunday and the impact flung the vehicle into a ditch. Col Sudeep Kumar of the Garhwal Rifles and his 38-year-old wife Sheetal died on the spot while their five-year-old son and driver Prem Kumar sustained serious injuries in the accident.The injured people are said to be in a stable condition.
The 42-year-old Army officer was posted at Garhwal Rifles Regimental Centre at Lansdowne and was travelling to Badrinath with his family when the accident happened.
The boulders hit the car at Pinola, an area located between Pandukeshwar and Joshimath on the highway, following a landslide prompted by heavy rain.
Talking to TOI, Santosh Badoni, deputy secretary, disaster management department, said, “The colonel was travelling to Badrinath with his family when the car was hit by boulders around 9.30am on Sunday. The vehicle was thrown into a 70-foot-deep ditch by the impact. Relief and rescue operations were immediately initiated by the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and district administration.”
A 15-member rescue team of the SDRF reached the spot and recovered the bodies of the Army officer and his wife, while the injured were given immediate medical attention. “The injured people were taken to a hospital in Joshimath for treatment and are said to be out of danger,” said an official.
Meanwhile, many places in the state, including Dehradun, received heavy rainfall on Sunday. The Met department has issued a 36-hour heavy rain alert at isolated places especially in Uttarakhand.