An Indian Army vehicle fell into a gorge at a remote location in North Sikkim leading to the unfortunate deaths of 16 soldiers.
The mishap took place at around 8 a.m. at Zema 3, about 15 kms away from Lachen, located at a distance of around 130 km away from Sikkim capital Gangtok.
The local police superintendent informed that the Indian Army vehicle was heading towards the border posts with twenty occupants.
As per police, the vehicle had been picking up Indian Army personnel on the way, as it was heading towards its destination. It seemed to have veered off the road while negotiating a curve and crashed hundreds of feet down into the gorge below.
All the sixteen bodies have been recovered from the crash site.
Four Army personnel are known to be critically injured, said a police team in Lachen. According to a senior police officer, they are said to have been airlifted to an Army hospital in North Bengal.
The bodies were taken to State-run STNM Hospital in Gangtok for post-mortem, later to be handed over to the Army.
It is yet to be ascertained as to which regiment the accident victims belonged to.