Haldwani, May 22 -- At least five people, including a child, were killed after the vehicle they were travelling in plunged into a gorge near Dhaila village on the Ratighat bypass in Nainital district on Thursday, police said. Local police personnel, along with teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), carried out a rescue operation and retrieved the bodies from the gorge before sending them to a government hospital for postmortem examination. According to SP Crime Nainital Jagdish Chandra, the vehicle was on its way to Haldwani with five occupants, including the driver, when the accident occurred near Dhaila village on the Ratighat bypass. "The driver lost control of the vehicle, following which it fell nearly 250 metres into a gorge. The impact was so severe that the vehicle was completely mangled," said Chandra. "The exact cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained. A detailed and technical investigation into the incident will be conducted," he added. Locals alleged that the accident site falls along a proposed bypass for Kainchi Dham where construction work is underway. htc...