7 killed, 30 injured as truck falls into gorge

MOREH, March 25: 7 persons including three women were killed while 30 others were injured when a BRTF Tata truck carrying about 40 labourers fell down a gorge about half a km from Govayang village which is about 6 kms away from the Moreh Police this morning around 8:30am.

The BRTF truck was reportedly ferrying the labourers for border fencing when the incident happened.

The dead victims have been identified as Nukul Orang (21), son of Gangur Orang of Assam; Tulshi Thapa (30) wife of Raj Bahadur of Ukhrul Kayashok village; Joura Phan (48), son of Nara Phan of Jharkhand;  Sundar Phan (20) son of Joura Phan of Jharkhand; Kahovan Devi, wife of Ajay Singh of Jharkhand; Saidul Alom (19), son of Nayrudeen of Assam and Vahneilam Kipgen from Moreh.

Sources said even as the vehicle was climbing the steep hill, its ignition went off and the vehicle slided backward and fell down the gorge, killing the seven and injuring several others.

The injured were rushed to the Moreh Hospital where a doctor and some nurses tried hard to accommodate the several injured individuals.

Sources informed that due to lack of adequate doctors, several injured were left unattended for a long time

On receiving reports of the accident, a medical team and personnel of the 9th AR arrived at the accident site to help in rescue work. The CO of the 9th AR also visited the accident site to take stock of the situation.

Personnel of the army also arrived at the accident site. The AR also provided its ambulance to ferry the injured to the hospital.