On cam | Narrow escape for passengers as traveller starts rolling back on hill road in Himachal’s Dalhousie

A group of tourists in Himachal Pradesh’s Dalhousie narrowly escaped what could have been a big tragedy as the vehicle they were travelling in rolled backwards and down a slop on a hill road on Wednesday.

A now-viral footage from a CCTV camera near the scene of the incident showed tourists climbing onto the traveller, which is parked on the side of the road.

The video shows the suddenly starting to roll backward, prompting the passengers to get out frantically and falling on the road.

The van then starts falling from one side of the hill slope, but gets stuck on the edge because of a tree. Following this, the passengers who had earlier alighted are seen helping those in the van in getting out. Some people also fell towards the roadside and into a shallow ditch.

Officials said no major injuries had been reported, adding that some tourists had sustained minor injuries. They were later given first aid by the locals, PTI news agency quoted officials as saying.

They said the incident would be investigated, and action would be taken if any negligence is found on the part of the driver of the vehicle.

This comes a week after a mini-truck, which was carrying 21 workers from Assam, plunged into a deep gorge in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh. The multi-agency search and rescue operation after the accident was called off by the district administration on Monday this week.

Till Sunday, 20 bodies were recovered and one survivor rescued after four days of rescue efforts by disaster response teams, Anjaw Deputy Commissioner Millo Kojin said.

While it had earlier been estimated that there were 22 labourers in the vehicle, a communication from the senior superintendent of police of Assam’s Tinsukia district on Sunday confirmed that there were only 21 people in the mini truck, including the driver, the DC said.