5 Belagavi youth die as car plunges into valley at Tillari

SAKHALI: Five youth from Belagavi were killed when the car in which they were travelling plunged into a valley after the driver lost control over the vehicle near Tillari in Chandgad taluka of Maharashtra on Sunday evening.

Chandgad police said the youth from Belagavi were returning home from a pleasure trip to Tillari falls and other tourist spots, close to Karnataka border.

Police said the tragic incident occurred when the car was on a slippery stretch of road on the ghat section and its brakes failed after which the driver lost control over the vehicle and it rolled down some 150 feet into a steep valley in the hilly region.

The deceased have been identified as Mohan Redekar (40), Kishan Gawde (19), Yallappa Patil (45), Pankaj Killekar (30) and Nagendra Babu (29).

Chandgad police rushed to the spot. The bodies were removed from the mangled vehicle by rescue workers and sent for postmortem to a nearby government hospital, police said.