Berhampur/Gangtok: Five persons, including an Odia Army personnel were killed in a road mishap near Nathula in Sikkim on Sunday.
As per reports, Yajnya Narayan Kar from Athagadapatna village under Kabisuryanagar Police limits in Ganjam was travelling in an army vehicle with four others last night. On the way, the vehicle skidded off a snow- covered Jawahar Lal Nehru Road near Nathula, and fell 800 ft into a gorge.
Following the mishap, the Army launched a three-hour long search operation and recovered the bodies of all the five persons from the vehicle which was badly mangled after falling into the gorge.
Sources said Kar and three others died on the spot while another soldier who had suffered injuries succumbed in a hospital in Kolkata.
As per Kar's family sources, the body of Kar will be airlifted to Bhubaneswar via Kolkata and Bagdogra after completion of post mortem in Gangtok. The last rites will be conducted at his ancestral village in Athagarhpatana.
(Edited By Ramakanta Biswas)