Sonamarg mishap: Body of missing female tourist recovered, toll climbs to 5

The death toll in the Sonamarg, Ganderbal, mishap rose to five after the body of a woman tourist was recovered from the Sindh Nallah on Monday, police said, adding that the other female tourist is still missing.

Police said that they recovered the body near Gagangeer, some 2 km downstream from the site of accident. “Of the two missing women, body of one was recovered. We are trying to identify her and other tourists who lost their lives yesterday,” said Gund station house officer Latief Ahmad.

The accident took place on Sunday when a Chevrolet Tavera car with 10 people on board, from the tourist resort of Sonamarg to Kangan, skidded into Sindh Nallah at Gund Gagangeer on Leh-Srinagar highway.

The vehicle driven by a local driver was ferrying six tourists –a couple from UP and four from Tamil Nadu (including three women), two labourers from Nepal and two local men (including the driver).

The accident prompted a quick response from the officials and rescue teams, including police, army, traffic rural police, SDRF and NDRF who managed to pull out the vehicle from the fast flowing stream on Sunday and recovered four dead bodies while four persons were rescued including two locals (including driver) and two other persons – a male tourist from UP namely Sameer Ahamd and a labourer from Nepal – who were seriously wounded. Both the injured are being treated at Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar.

“Sameer is not in a position to identify whether the woman we retrieved today was his wife or not,” said the officer.

The four persons who died on Sunday, included three unidentified tourists including two women, and a labourer.

Police said that the three tourists whose bodies were retrieved on Sunday were from Tamil Nadu, while the deceased labourer was Nema Pasang Sherpa, who was from Nepal and was currently residing in Leh.

“The identities of the tourists from Tamil Nadu are yet to be ascertained as we are waiting for a family to arrive,” the police officer said.

The search operation to find the last missing woman is on, the police added.