Three Army personnel were killed when their vehicle skidded off the road and plunged into a 700-feet deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district on Sunday, officials said.

The army truck was part of a convoy moving from Jammu to Srinagar along national highway 44 when the accident occurred near Battery Chashma at around 11.30 am, the officials said.

They said a joint rescue operation was launched immediately by army, police, SDRF and local volunteers and three soldiers, travelling in the vehicle, were found dead on-the-spot.

The deceased were identified as sepoys Amit Kumar, Sujeet Kumar and Man Bahadur and their bodies are being retrieved from the gorge, the officials said, adding the crash reduced the vehicle into a mangled heap of metal.

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