Four people died near Mussoorie in Uttarakhand on Wednesday after a car, suspected to have brake failure fell into a 500-metre-deep gorge, police said.SDRF and police personnel near the accident site. (HT Sourced Photo)Police said they received information via the 112 helpline around 9.16am about an accident on Jharipani Road. A police team from Mussoorie police station, along with the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), fire service and emergency medical services, rushed to the scene and launched a rescue operation.The deceased are identified as Satyaprakash of Sonipat in Haryana, Manit (19) and Savita (48), residents of Nehru Nagar in Ghaziabad, and Sangeeta (46), a resident of Karol Bagh in Delhi.They were travelling from Uttarkashi, police said.Ankit Kandari, circle officer, Mussoorie, said, “According to preliminary information, the car’s brakes may have failed on the steep downhill stretch.”“Witnesses told police that the occupants had stopped at a nearby shop and purchased some items. Shortly after getting back into the vehicle, the car began rolling downhill at speed, crossed a vacant plot and plunged into the gorge,” he said.All four were found dead and their bodies are being recovered from the gorge.Also Read:‘Nails pulled out, genitals wounded’: 5 shocking details in Dalit teen’s murder in UttarakhandThe bodies will be sent for postmortem examination, and their families have been informed, police said.Every year, more than 1,000 road accidents are reported in Uttarakhand, with the treacherous, winding and narrow roads in the mountainous terrain often exacerbating the danger.The problem becomes more acute during the monsoon and winter seasons when poor visibility makes journeys challenging.With the goal of reducing road accidents by 50% by 2030, the Uttarakhand cabinet approved the Road Safety Policy, 2025, in February last year. The objective is to ensure the safety of road users, raise public awareness, develop safer infrastructure, enforce compliance with road safety and traffic regulations, strengthen emergency medical care for accident victims, and promote qualitative research on road safety by identifying the roles of various stakeholder departments in achieving these goals.