11 killed in Himachal road accident

Shimla : At least 11 people were killed and nine injured when an overcrowded multi-utility vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district Saturday, police said.

The injured were admitted to the Civil Hospital in Paonta Sahib. Some of the injured have been referred to Chandigarh’s Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER).

The accident took place near Timbi village near Paonta Sahib town, about 120 km from district headquarters town of Nahan, Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Lakhanpal told IANS by telephone.

He said most of the victims belonged to villages in Shillai block of Paonta Sahib subdivision.

Eyewitnesses told the police the driver was driving the vehicle rashly.

Sirmaur is among the remote areas of the state, where very few passenger buses ply on roads, leading to overcrowding of private vehicles.