21 workers killed as truck plunges into deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh

At least 21 labourers were killed and one survived after a truck carrying them skidded off a narrow mountain road and plunged into a deep gorge near Metengliang in Arunachal Pradesh’s Anjaw district, officials said on Thursday.

Anjaw SP Anurag Dwivedi said the group of 22 labourers had left Assam’s Tinsukia district on December 7 for Chaglagam, where they were employed at a construction site. When they did not reach their destination by December 10, their colleagues alerted the Hayuliang police station.

“Hayuliang police activated local sources to trace the missing workers. During the search, a Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) camp informed officers that an injured man had reached them claiming that his truck had crashed with 21 others on board. He was given first aid and later shifted to Assam via Tezu for advanced treatment,” the SP said.

Preliminary investigation suggests the accident took place on December 8 between 8 pm and 9 pm, around 11 km from Chaglagam, when the vehicle slipped off the road and fell into a deep valley. With no mobile connectivity in the area, the tragedy remained unreported for nearly two days.

Dwivedi said the survivor’s testimony helped teams narrow down the crash site, after which the army, BRO, local police and district administration launched a coordinated search and rescue operation. An NDRF team has also been requisitioned.

“As of now, 17 bodies have been sighted and retrieval is in progress. The terrain is extremely difficult, with the gorge almost 700 metres deep,” DySP Habung Sama said, adding that the case is being treated as an accident.

Officials said 18 of the 22 labourers were residents of the Gilapukhuri Tea Estate in Assam’s Tinsukia district.