Two Tinsukia truckers die after vehicle plunges into Arunachal gorge

Dibrugarh: Four days since their disappearance, two truck drivers from Tinsukia were found dead on Thursday, along the treacherous Roing-Hunli road, near Mayodia, in Arunachal Pradesh’s Dibang Valley district after their truck had plunged approximately 70 metres into a deep gorge.The deceased have been identified as driver Manoj Kumar Shah (48) and co-driver Tanka Bahadur Chetri (34), both employees of TCI, a Tinsukia-based goods transport company.According to reports, the duo had departed from Tinsukia on Sunday morning, carrying construction materials for a business outlet in Arunachal’s Anini district. The truck was last tracked while passing through the Shantipur check gate, along the Assam-Arunachal border, at 7.30 pm on Sunday.Initially, family members and the transport company attributed their silence to poor mobile connectivity. However, after a couple of days, when the duo remained incommunicado, concerned families filed a missing person complaint at Tinsukia police station on Wednesday evening.Reacting swiftly, Tinsukia SSP Mayank Kumar contacted Dibang Valley SP Manish Shaurya, triggering a joint search operation on Thursday morning.“The GPS signal, which wasn’t showing earlier, suddenly appeared at one location. The driver’s phone was switched off, but the co-driver’s phone started ringing, which wasn’t the case before. However, he was not responding to the call. This led us to suspect a possible accident,” a police official involved in the search said.