Dehradun, Nov. 25 -- Five people were killed and several others injured after a bus carrying around 18 passengers fell into a 70-metre-deep gorge near Kunjapuri-Hindolakhal in the Narendranagar area of Tehri district of Uttarakhand on Monday, said officials. The victims were part of a group of devotees returning from Kunjapuri Temple when their bus plunged into a gorge after its brakes reportedly failed. According to State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) officials, the district control room informed the SDRF Corps Control Room about the accident on Monday afternoon, stating that the vehicle had skid off the road in the Narendranagar police station limits. Acting on the alert, SDRF deployed five teams from Post Dhalwala, Post Koti Colony and the SDRF Corps Headquarters to the site. SDRF officials confirmed five deaths at the scene. All injured passengers were evacuated from the gorge and rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment. Five seriously injured have been shifted to AIIMS Rishikesh. Tehri district officials said the victims, who hailed from different parts of the country, were part of a group of devotees returning from the hill shrine when their bus plunged into a gorge after its brakes reportedly failed. The deceased include Anita Chauhan, wife of Narendra Chauhan, resident of Dwarka, Delhi , Parth Sarathi, 17, son of Madhusudan Joshi, resident of Baroda, Gujarat, Namita Pravat Kale, 58, resident of Nagpur, Maharashtra, Anuja Venkataraman, 48, resident of Bengaluru and Ayushi Tyagi, 51, wife of Pradeep Kumar, resident of Uttar Pradesh Officials said the group of 40 devotees had travelled in two buses via Dayanand Ashram to visit the popular Kunjapuri Temple. The accident occurred while one of the buses (registration number UK14 PA 1769), carrying 18 passengers, was reversing on a narrow stretch when its brakes malfunctioned, causing the vehicle to fall into a deep gorge. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, "The news of the bus accident in Narendranagar, Tehri is saddening. I pray to God to grant the departed souls a place at His feet and give the bereaved families the strength to bear this grief. The injured in the accident are being sent to the nearest hospital by the district administration and SDRF, and the seriously injured have been referred to AIIMS Rishikesh."...