Death audit of road accident fatalities compulsory in Bengal
Death Audits in case of fatalities in road transport accidents (RTAs) will be compulsory in West Bengal, as per the latest order from the state Health Department.
In the latest case of disappearance, a 45-year-old Karnataka woman Kiran Bapna went missing in the Tirthan Valley of Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, a place adjacent to the Parvati Valley, and together both places are known for disappearances of people due to several reasons.
Bapna, a tourist accompanied by her family members was walking on a trail in Tirthan Valley. The incident took place on Sunday. The next they knew was that she slipped and was subsequently engorged by the Tirthan river flowing underneath, says Sher Singh Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kullu.
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This is not the first time such an incident has taken place. Sher Singh says, “We have always requested tourists not to walk on narrow trails and on edges,” said Sher Singh.
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Regarding Bapna, he says, despite having deployed an aerial survey to trace her, also home guard and fire brigade men have been deployed to at least trace the body. But so far we’ve not had any success.
A much bigger incident took place when 24 engineering students from Andhra Pradesh drowned in the Beas river after a large volume of water was suddenly released from Larji reservoir.
A similar incident involving two tourists from Delhi took place on May 7, 2022, in the nearby Parvati river of Kullu. The rescue team was able to extricate their bodies after 15 days. In yet another incident on September 2021, a woman and her son from Delhi were washed away in Beas.
In the entire stretch of Parvati and Tirthan Valley, people disappear for several reasons – due to drugs, some are devoured by the wild cats, and the likes of Kiran Bapna, who are enthralled by the beauty and not used to walking in the hills, slip and fall into the passing rivers.
Locals say, by the look of it when one goes closer to the river one doesn’t get the idea how speedy the waters are. It is only when you get into the water that tourists find themselves unable to come out. But most incidents are like the ones of Kiran Bapna, who just slipped and went missing into the river.
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