Avalanche gobbles up car, Bengal varsity professor, son die in Ladakh

Kolkata, June 10: A teacher of Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, and her son - a student of IIT Kharagpur - died when their vehicle fell into a gorge following an avalanche while on a sightseeing trip in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir.

Rajasri Basu, professor of Political Science at the university, and IIT Kharagpur student Soumyadeep Basu were killed in the accident on Monday, family and government sources confirmed.

Rajasri's scientist husband Padmanava Basu, head of the department of the nuclear physics at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, was admitted in a nursing home in a serious condition.

"Padmanava is now in a nursing home. His wife and their son have died, but he does not know," said a relative in the victim's house at Vivekananda Road.

State Tourism Minister Bratya Basu said the bodies will be flown in on Wednesday.

The family started off for Ladakh on May 31.

On Monday morning as they were travelling in a car, it skidded off the road and tumbled into the gorge following an avalanche.

Police rescued Padmanava. However, Rajasri and Soumyadeep died.

"The accident happened because of an avalanche. The car fell into a gorge. Two of the passengers were killed," Leh district magistrate Sougata Biswas told a private news channel over phone.

IANS