Gangtok, Oct. 5: The bodies of six jawans and two civilians, who were killed when an overloaded vehicle skidded off the road in East Sikkim yesterday, have been handed over to the Sashastra Seema Bal and the families respectively.

Four jawans, the driver and a teacher died on the spot. Two more jawans died on the way to hospital.

The driver was identified as Anil Kumar Rai from Namchi in South Sikkim and the teacher as Parimal Rai, a resident of Chujachen.

The jawans who died were Binod Kumar Teli from Alipurduar, B.V. Satyanarayanan from Andhra Pradesh, D.D. Karamchand from Uttarakhand, B. Raja Rao from Andhra Pradesh, Brij Mohan Nathang from Arunachal Pradesh and Mohinder Chand Dey from Tripura.

Nathang succumbed to injuries on way to Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial Hospital in Gangtok and Dey on way to a nursing home in Siliguri.

The injured were rushed to the Rangpo primary health centre. Six of them were referred to STNM Hospital in Gangtok and three were taken to nursing homes in Siliguri.

Most of the injured seem to be from the Sashastra Seema Bal stationed in Malbazaar in north Bengal.

The accident spot near Kumrek, on the Rorathang-Rangpo Road, is around 65km from Gangtok.

Most of the passengers were headed for Siliguri from Rongli. The vehicle, a Mahindra Savari, had 18 people in it when it hurtled down 300ft from a cliff near Kumrek. Ideally, a Savari should carry a maximum of 11 people.

The four bodies of the jawans were handed over last evening to the acting commandant of the 10th Battalion who had come to the Singtam district hospital, while that of Nathang was given to the officials in Gangtok this morning.

Dey’s body was released in Siliguri, said M.S. Tuli, the superintendent of police of East district.

Tuli said a case of rash and negligent driving has been registered. Overloading and speeding could have led to the accident.