The Bhutanese Leading the way.
A tipper truck on the road from Zhemgang to Gelephu met with an accident at around 4:30 pm on February 12 near Bandari bridge, about 22 kilometer way from Gelephu, killing the driver and severely injuring the two passengers in the truck.
Sources say the driver, while trying to light a cigarette, lost control of the truck and went off the road about 105 meters down the cliff.
The driver was thrown out of the vehicle while the two passengers remained trapped inside the smashed cabin of the vehicle.
A driver of a vehicle travelling on the same road, ahead of the tipper truck, witnessed the accident and informed the police.
The police along with medical support and the local search and rescue team rushed to the accident scene.
Sources confirmed that the police and the rescue team had difficulties in rescuing the two passengers trapped inside the truck due to steepness of the cliff and darkness falling in. It took more than four hours to rescue and evacuate the two injured passengers to the hospital.
Police say that if there was no timely intervention from the rescue team, the two passengers would have also succumbed to their injuries.
The driver, 29, from Jigmecholing gewog under Gelephu succumbed to his injuries at the Gelephu hospital.
The two passengers, aged 24 and 26, had hitched a ride with the truck driver from Tingtibi, Zhemgang. They sustained multiple injuries but sources say that they are now in a stable condition.
The 26-year-old is an ambulance driver of Yebilabtsa BHU and the other passenger is working for a private firm.
Police say the cause of the accident seems to be negligent driving, however, the case is still under investigation.
