India, Dec. 12 -- Eighteen labourers from Assam's Tinsukia were killed and three others were reported missing after a truck carrying them skidded off a narrow mountain road and fell nearly 700 metres into a gorge near Metengliang in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, officials said on Thursday.

Anjaw superintendent of police (SP) Anurag Dwivedi said the group of 22 labourers had left Tinsukia district on December 7 for Chaglagam, near the India-China border, where they were engaged for construction work. When they failed to arrive by December 10, their associates raised an alarm at the Hayuliang police station.

Hayuliang police then mobilised local sources to trace the missing workers. During the search, officers were alerted by a Bord...