Lives Lost, Families Ruined: 33 Killed In Massive Bus Accident In Uttarakhand's Pauri District

The massive bus accident in Uttarakhand's Pauri district in which 33 people were killed did not just snuff out lives but also ruined families.

Among them was 58-year-old Chandraprakash who lost his two sons, their wives, and a five-year-old grandson.

Thirty-three members of a wedding party were killed and 19 injured when a bus carrying them fell into a gorge in the district, police said on Wednesday as the search and rescue operation concluded nearly 24 hours after the accident.

Chandraprakash and his wife Bina Devi are yet to come to terms with what has happened. Perhaps the wounds caused by the tragedy would never heal.

Daily wage labourer Govind Singh lost his only son Pankaj Singh (16), a student of Class 11 at the Government Inter College, Laldhang.

His elder brother Komal Singh's elder son Ghulab Singh (37), daughter-in-law Deepa Devi (30), and granddaughter Priyanshi (8) also died in the accident.

Five-year-old Shivani does not know yet that her mother died in the accident. Sitting in the lap of an Anganwadi worker at a Kotdwar hospital, the child waits for her. Her father works abroad, the Anganwadi worker said.

The groom's elder brother Rishi Singh and his brother-in-law were also killed in the accident. He returned home alone to loud cries, having lost his relatives and other members of the marriage party in the tragedy.

Three of the baratis were lucky enough to escape unhurt as they got down from the bus half an hour into the journey before the bus met with the accident.

They are Narendra Nath and his two friends Srichand and Pratap Singh.

"I got a call about the sudden death of my father-in-law. Hearing the news, I and two of my friends got down from the bus and returned home," Narendra Nath said.