7 of family die as car falls into pit in Jaipur

JAIPUR: Seven of a family, including two children, died after the car they were travelling in skidded off the road and plunged into a deep, rainwater-filled pit along Jaipur Ring Road early Sunday.

"Prima facie, it appears the car was speeding and being driven drowsily. The driver lost control of the car, which crashed into the divider, slipped through a 20ft-wide passage, falling 16ft into a water- filled underpass," a cop said.

Shivdaspura SHO Surendra Saini identified the victims as Ram Raj Vaishnav (38) of Sanganer who was driving, his wife Madhu (36), their son Rudra (14 months), Ram's brother-in-law Ashok Vaishnav (47) of Bhilwara, Ashok's wife Seema (48), their son Rohit (30), and Rohit's son Gajraj (6).

The family left Jaipur on Sept 12 in Ram Raj's taxi for Haridwar to immerse the ashes of Ashok's father. After completing the post-death rituals, they were heading back when tragedy struck around 4am, ASI (traffic accident) Ram Ratan said. The accident came to light around 12.30pm when a passersby spotted the submerged vehicle and alerted cops. Shivdaspura Police reached the scene and used a crane to retrieve the car. It took nearly an hour to recover all seven bodies.

Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma condoled the tragedy on X, calling it "extremely tragic and heart-wrenching".