At least 18 workers from Assam dead, three missing after truck plunges into Arunachal gorge

The Dec 8 accident became known only two days later when the lone survivor found help

- MPOST BUREAU

At least 18 labourers from Assam's Tinsukia district were killed and three others remain missing after the truck transporting them veered off a remote mountain road and fell into a deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, officials confirmed on Thursday. The accident occurred on the Hayuliang Chaglagam Road on December 8, but the scale of the tragedy only came to light two days later when the lone survivor managed to reach help.

Defence PRO Lt Col Mahender Rawat said the truck was carrying 22 workers when it went off the road on a stretch located about 40 km from Hayuliang toward Chaglagam. Citing the survivor's account, he said the vehicle had plunged into a steep re-entrant around the evening or night of December 8. "Eighteen bodies have been sighted," Rawat said, adding that the area's dense foliage made the crash site invisible both from the road and from the air.