ITANAGAR, 18 Nov: A spiritual leader and three of his associates died after their vehicle got buried under a landslide in Kamle district, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place at around 5:30 pm on the under-construction Trans-Arunachal Highway (Package 5), near Muri Mugli village, on Friday, SP Thutan Jamba said.
The deceased have been identified as Christopher Hembrom (40), from Jalpaiguri in West Bengal; Lokinath Kisku (23), from Kokrajhar in Assam; Abhijit Hembrom (33), from Kokrajhar; and Nirmal Hembrom (34), from Kokrajhar.
They were on their way to Itanagar from a healing festival in Dumporijo in Upper Subansiri district.
Upper Subansiri district CRCC president Talin Badhi and its general secretary Tabu Haging reported the matter to the police and requested for investigation into the cause of the accident.
A team from the Raga police station rushed to the spot and retrieved the bodies from the debris at around 9 pm on Friday, the SP said.
A case (u/s 174 CrPC) has been registered and endorsed to SI Rotom Echu for investigation.
Postmortem was conducted and the bodies were then handed over to the relatives of the deceased. (PTI, with input from Sinyik Watch Dog)