Devprayag car accident: Jaisalmer AIIMS doctor among victims; search on for missing family members

JAISALMER: Rescue and search operations continued for a second consecutive day on Wednesday after a tragic road accident involving a Jaisalmer-based AIIMS doctor and his family near Devprayag in Uttarakhand’s Tehri district.

The accident occurred on the Rishikesh–Devprayag stretch of National Highway-7 when an Innova vehicle carrying pilgrims plunged into the Alaknanda River.

Teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are continuing an extensive search operation in the river for three missing persons. So far, the bodies of the missing individuals have not been recovered.

At the time of the accident, eight people, including the driver, were travelling in the Innova. The group comprised five women and three men. By Tuesday evening, rescue teams had recovered four bodies, while three persons remain missing.

Efforts are also underway to retrieve the submerged vehicle from the river. A crane has been deployed at the accident site, and SDRF’s specialized deep-diving team is conducting underwater searches in the Alaknanda River for the missing passengers and the driver.

Rescue officials fear that some occupants may have become trapped inside the vehicle during the crash. As a result, locating and recovering the Innova has become a key focus of the operation. Authorities believe that retrieving the vehicle could provide crucial information about the circumstances of the accident.

According to family members, Dr. Dinesh Mali, a 27-year-old doctor at AIIMS Delhi, had embarked on a Char Dham pilgrimage around ten days ago with his parents, sister Guddi Devi, and her four children. Due to health issues, his father, Loona Ram, stayed behind in Haridwar while the remaining family members continued their pilgrimage.

The family was returning to Haridwar on June 2 to pick up Loona Ram when the accident occurred near Devprayag. The vehicle carrying seven family members and the driver plunged into the Alaknanda River.

Loona Ram survived only because he had chosen not to travel into the hills due to breathing difficulties. The bodies of his son Dr. Dinesh Mali, wife Kamla Devi, and granddaughter Ashlesha have already been recovered from the river.

His daughter Guddi Devi and two granddaughters are still missing. One grandson, 12-year-old Ayushman, survived the accident but sustained critical injuries. The driver, Akhilesh, also lost his life in the crash.
Family members said they had travelled from Jaisalmer to Haridwar by train. On May 26, Dr. Mali had left his father at Patanjali Ashram in Haridwar for Panchakarma treatment before continuing the Char Dham Yatra with the rest of the family.

Meanwhile, Ayushman is undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Base Hospital. Doctors said the boy was brought to the emergency department unconscious and remains in critical condition. He has been placed on ventilator support in the ICU, where a team of specialists is closely monitoring his condition. Blood transfusions have also been administered as part of his treatment.

Rescue teams from SDRF and other agencies remain deployed at the accident site. The search for the missing family members and the recovery of the submerged vehicle continue to be the top priorities for authorities.