Shimla, June 1 -- Rescue teams on Sunday retrieved the bodies of seven tourists and a taxi driver who were killed after their vehicle plunged into a deep gorge near Kalaban on the Bairagarh-Sach Pass route in Chamba district's Churah subdivision on Friday midnight, officials said on Sunday. "The accident site posed significant challenges for rescuers. The bodies were recovered after more than seven-hours of strenuous activity that began at 7 am on Sunday and ended at 2 pm," said Chamba deputy commissioner Mukesh Repaswal. He added, "Steep terrain, adverse weather conditions, and the complete absence of mobile connectivity in the region posed a major challenge. Superintendent of Police Vijay Saklani is on the spot. We are communicating through satellite phones as there are no mobile signals in area." The incident occurred late on Friday night on the Bairgarh-Sach Pass-Killar road in Churah subdivision, but locals came to know about it on Saturday afternoon. As per police, two families had met in Dalhousie and decided to go to Sach Pass region in a shared taxi. Both families, accompanied by the taxi driver, departed on Friday for the Bairagarh-Killar route via Sach Pass and when the taxi did not return to Dalhousie even after the scheduled time, the vehicle owner checked the vehicle's GPS location. According to the GPS data, the vehicle appeared to be stationary at a single spot near the Kalavan area, showing absolutely no signs of movement. Following this, a local search operation was initiated, which raised the apprehension that the vehicle had met with an accident. Information regarding the accident was received on Saturday afternoon, at which point the local administration was formally notified. However, due to the extremely rugged terrain, steep and treacherous slopes, and adverse weather conditions, the bodies could not be retrieved from the gorge yesterday. Consequently, the operation resumed on Sunday morning and the locals along with police formed human chains along with ropes to get down to the accident spot, officials said. The deceased are have been identified as Arvind Chandrakar, his wife Prachi, sons Darsh and Akshad, all residents of Bengaluru, PG Karthikeyan, his wife Manimala and son Nandan, of Karnataka and the taxi driver Vishwas, a resident of Banikhet from Chamba in Himachal, said officials. Preliminary investigations suggest that the accident happened while on the way back from Sach Pass. The exact cause of the accident is yet to be determined. A case under Sections 281 and 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered at Tissa police station. htc...