3rd J&K Mughal Rally meets a sad end; one driver dead

Srinagar: Late last evening, Team Number 61 participating in the Enduro category of The 3rd Mughal Rally met with an accident on the climb up to Sinthan Pass. The team comprised Jitender Shukla and Ashish Mahajan.

About 40 CRPF personnel were deployed for the safe passage of the rally, and were waiting for the last car to cross the stretch. Incidentally, they were parked less than 50 meters away from where the vehicle of the rallyists went down, and rushed for the rescue operation. They were joined by the Marshals deputed for the Mughal Rally, who were close to the site. Vijay Parmar, President of Himalayan Motorsport Association, was a couple of kms from the accident site, and oversaw the rescue operation.

The CRPF men found Shukla and Mahajan, and brought them up to the track. The doctors in the ambulance stationed near the site found that Shukla was dead. Mahajan, who was injured, was immediately given medical care by the team in the second ambulance. He was taken in an unconscious state to Shere Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, where he is in the intensive care unit.

The organizers and the competitors were in a pall of gloom after hearing news of the mishap. The Xtreme category, which is the high-speed component of rallying, had earlier in the day made two passes of the same stretch, once downhill and the second time uphill, safely. This included 35 teams in the Xtreme 4X4 four-wheelers, and 17 bikers. The threat perception associated with the Enduro category is low, because this category follows a specified low-speed format. A total of 26 teams of the Enduro category also completed the event safely.

The organizers have contacted the families of both the competitors. The ceremonial flag-in and the prize distribution have been cancelled on account of the mishap.

The final results are as follows.

Xtreme 4X4 four-wheelers: Amit Rajit Ghosh and his navigator Soham Hazra (first), Gaurev Prabhakar and his navigator Ravi Prabhakar  (second), Lohitt Urs and Chupong Chaiwan (third).

Xtreme Bikers: Mohit Verma (first), Yogesh Lakhani (second), Umang Saxena (third).

The Enduro category results are awaited.