Three people were killed and three others seriously injured after a car they were travelling veered off a road and fell off a cliff 500 feet down near the Tamhini ghat area on the Pune-Mangaon road Saturday afternoon. The three injured were rescued and the three bodies were recovered in a search and rescue effort that lasted over seven hours, officials said.
The deceased were identified as Rishabh Chavan (24), Krushna Rathod (27) and Saurabh Bhinge (25) and the injured as Rohan Gade (26), Praveen Sarkate (26) and Rohan Chavan (22).
Officials from the Raigad district police said that the six people from Washim district of Maharashtra were on their way to the Devkund waterfalls in Raigad district via Pune in their car. The incident took place around 4.30 pm, they said.
Inspector Rajendra Patil, in-charge of Mangaon police station, said: “Primary probe suggests that near Kondethar Sanaswadi village, the driver of the car applied brakes on a slippery patch and could not control it. The vehicle veered off the road and fell off a cliff. Three people died and three others sustained critical injuries.”
Officials said that three who were injured had managed to either come out of the car or were hurled out on a flat surface midway on the cliff slope. The three who remained in the car died on the spot after sustaining multiple serious injuries, they said.
Inspector Patil said after a seven-hour-long effort, which was carried out with the help of local groups of trekkers, the injured were brought to safety and then the bodies were taken out. The injured are being treated at a local hospital in Mangaon, he said.
