Eight tourists killed after SUV falls 800 feet into gorge near Mahabaleshwar road

Eight persons were killed after an SUV plunged nearly 800 feet into a gorge in Raigad district’s Ambenali Ghat area. Police suspect the driver lost control while travelling from Dapoli to Satara during the early hours.

Mumbai: Eight persons were killed after a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) plunged into a deep gorge in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, police said on Monday.

The accident occurred in the Ambenali Ghat area on Poladpur-Mahabaleshwar road between 5 am and 6 am on Sunday when the victims were on their way from Dapoli to Satara. The vehicle was found in the gorge on Monday morning, a senior police official said.

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The victims left from Harne in Dapoli at around 2 am in the SUV. When they did not reach Satara, their relatives launched a search in the afternoon and later approached the police.

During the investigation, the victims’ last location was traced through a mobile tower near Poladpur. While searching in the Ambenali Ghat section, the police spotted the SUV about 800 feet deep in the gorge on Monday morning, the official said.

The police suspect that the accident occurred after the driver lost control of the vehicle in the ghat area, following which it plunged into the gorge, he said.

So far, two bodies have been recovered with the help of the local disaster management team, while three more have been traced, the official said, adding that the search operation was underway.

The victims have been identified as Ritesh Lokhande (22), Suhas Lokhande (20), Utkarsh Shingte (21), Nikhil Shingte (25), Mahesh Pawar (25), Aditya Salunkhe (21), Rajesh Katkar (35), all the residents of Satara, and Ansh Chavan (19), belonging to Ratnagiri, the police added.