An SUV with 10 passengers on board fell into a gorge close to Ghayabari tea estate, near Mirik, in Darjeeling on Saturday. Among the passengers, one person died and the others were injured.

The vehicle was on its way to Siliguri from Sukhiapokhri when it fell into the gorge at around 9:45 a.m.

“The driver somehow lost control and the vehicle veered off the road. Due to the impact, one of the passengers died while nine others got injured,” said a source in the Mirik block administration.

The deceased Lakpa Targay Sherpa, 54, is a resident of Simana, Sukhiapokhri.

Locals rushed for help soon after the accident. Police personnel from Mirik police station rescued the injured and recovered Lakpa’s body.

“The injured were initially sent to the primary health centre in Sukna (located around 10 kilometres from here) and later shifted to the North Bengal Medical College & Hospital. The driver, however, was not found on the spot and searches are on to trace him,” the source added.

Boy dies

A five-year-old boy was mowed down by a truck in Nauapara, a locality on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town on Saturday.

Sources said Abhi Raut, a resident of the Station Bazar area of Jalpaiguri, had gone to Nauapara with his mother to harvest potatoes from a relative's field.

The boy had visited a local shop and was hit by a truck on his way to the field. Local residents rushed him to the Jalpaiguri Government Medical College & Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

As the news spread, some local people staged a road blockade in protest. Police officers from the Kotwali police station eventually cleared the road.

Police have arrested the driver and seized the truck.