3 killed as car falls into Ramganga river in UP’s Bareilly

Three people were killed after their car fell into the Ramganga river from an under-construction bridge here on Sunday, police said.

The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in Badaun district, they said. The car, being navigated using GPS, crashed through a damaged section of the bridge, police said.

“Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the GPS. As a result, the driver was misled and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe,” Circle Officer of the area Ashutosh Shivam said.

“In addition, the absence of safety barriers or warning signs on the under-construction bridge compounded the danger, leading to the fatal accident,” Shivam said.

The victims, whose identities are yet to be confirmed, were travelling at high speed when their car fell into the river. Police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Badaun's Dataganj police stations rushed to the scene. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.

The Circle Officer said the bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.